Today’s Scripture Reading (April 13,
2015): Genesis 8
A number of
years ago I was working in a retail situation and I made a mistake. I ordered
the wrong item for a customer, and then compounded the problem by not immediately
recognizing the error. Instead, I phoned the customer to tell her that the item
had arrived and was ready for pickup. But while the customer was in transit,
the error was recognized. The discussion that then ensued was in regard to what
it was that we were going to tell the customer when she arrived. And the
consensus of the store was to blame someone else. It must have been that person
who picked the item in the warehouse, or maybe it was a computer error, or a
shipping error – there always seems to be someone that can be safely blamed. I
listened to the suggestions, and then commented that I wanted to try something
a little different – the truth. I wanted to tell the customer that I made the
error, but that I was also willing to make it right.
I have to
admit that my co-workers had never heard of such a stupid idea, but they were
willing to let me try – just as long as I didn’t include any of them in my
hare-brained scheme. I still remember the customer walking in to the store, and
my admission of error. There was a pause in the conversation before the
customer unleashed her barrage of words against my lack of abilities. But one
of the things that has always intrigued me was the moment that she accused me
of lying. After the customer had left, my co-workers had their moment of mirth
at my expense. They insisted that a paradox existed in retail work - if I really
wanted to be seen as truthful, I had to learn how to lie.
The attitude
is pervasive in our culture. Lying is expected. Admitting error is a sign of
weakness. Failure is not an option. And yet, error and failure are part of the
fabric of the human condition. None of us are perfect, so why do we insist that
those around us have to be?
Sometimes I
wonder if part of the sin of the pre-flood populations was simply found in their
arrogance and their refusal to admit error. So one of the first things that
Noah does is to build an altar (this the first time in the Bible that anyone is
said to have built an altar) and makes a sacrifice. Noah is not following any
kind of prescribed ritual – the Law of Moses was still several centuries away
from being given to Israel. Israel didn’t even exist, just Noah and his family.
The only animals that existed on the planet were the ones that Noah had brought
with him, so the sacrifice was more costly than maybe we might think. And yet
Noah seems to innately know that a freewill sacrifice was somehow necessary.
Noah needed to admit man’s error. And God received the sacrifice and forgave the
remnant that was left of the race of man.
And God
promised that he would never send the flood waters on the earth again, in spite
of the fact that every inclination from the human heart is evil since birth. The
truth is that God does not expect perfection, he expects honesty – and if we
are willing to admit our error before him, God has promised that he will
forgive us of our sins and that he will bless our lives.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis
9
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