My spirit will not always strive

And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." …Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. – Genesis 6v3,5

I found it amazing how often cultural stories and myths mimic the word of God. Greek mythology tells of the story of Pandora, the first woman, who was intended to work alongside and help men. She was told that she could not open certain jar (which has morphed into a box, but, of course, she had to open it. When she did all the evils on mankind were released even though she tried to quickly close it. We now use the phrase ‘open Pandora’s box’ when we speak of doing something that unleashes any kind of serious problem.

We can well say that when Eve (the original Pandora) ate the fruit she opened to ultimate Pandora’s Box. When she sinned she passed it on to Adam and sin was unleashed on the world. Cain killed his brother and in a few centuries ‘the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every intent of his heart was only evil continually.’

God looked down and saw the great evil force that man had become. We will look more at how He felt about that tomorrow, but we have an insight to His response back in verse 3.

‘My spirit will not always strive with man.’ God is patient, loving, kind, merciful, gracious, and so much more. He is also holy, just, and righteous. God’s desire is that all men come to repentance. He makes that clear in the New Testament. He woos and calls and leads and direct in order to draw men to Himself. He sends His spirit to work in mankind. But he tells us here that He will not contend with man forever.

We don’t know how long He is going to strive for us. We don’t know the limit. The truth remains that He will not always strive with man. The description of earth in this passage could very well fit today. Wickedness is great in the earth. It does seem that every intent of man’s heart is only evil continually. Judgement is coming – it is certain. How much longer does this world have?

Those of us who are saved have it made, our eternity is secure. It is vital that we share that hope with others because tomorrow may be too late.