And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it. –Genesis 9:7
Dear members and friends,
There is a wisdom to learn in the story of God blessing Noah after the flood. Amazingly, God mentioned nothing about the reason for the flood or what went wrong before. According to the story, God simply commended and blessed Noah, focusing on what Noah would do, which was to rebuild humanity with his family. God said to Noah, “And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it.” Also, this is what Creator God said to humans after their creation, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). After the flood, God acknowledged that this was the new beginning of humanity. Thus, God gave them the exact instructions as before; something they could accomplish!
The wisdom of this story, of course, is about human nature and moving forward despite the past. Whatever and however it happened, the past stays in the past, therefore we should leave it there. Does this mean that we should simply forget about the past? If that was possible, most human dramas would disappear instantly. But as we all know, such a thing is not possible to human minds. However, replaying past events in one’s mind makes no difference. Therefore, our focus and energy should be poured into matters at hand, meaning things and issues that can be changed by our choices right now. If you find yourself fixated on something from the past, the focus should not be about why and how it happened, but about why your mind is still thinking about it. In other words, you need to understand why your mind is not letting it go. Knowing and discovering the reason(s) of attachment might actually liberate your mind from being haunted by the past. Both bondage and liberation are matters of the mind, thus the search and application of the solution needs to happen within the mind.
Blessings, Rev. Junchol Lee