“And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times, it repented him that he had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart, he said: ‘I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.’ But Noe found grace before the Lord.”
Man was not made for sin, for it is a deformed expression of love, which is his most fundamental need. Just as the need for food and drink is deformed by consuming things that are contrary to good health, so too is the need for love deformed by acting in a way that is sinful. The actions of all on the earth aside from Noah were far from the love and goodness that should be written in the heart, with the influence of one sinful person on another dragging each farther away, so that the divine Lover could not reach any heart with His gentleness. Parents allow their children to walk, but when they begin to move into danger, the parent runs to their aid and picks them up, removing them from what threatens them and carrying them at least for a time. Humanity had reached a point of such depravity that God took action to show His displeasure with sin, which in turn does instill fear in later generations, which is necessary when the draws of love fail, that good behavior might be instituted. This is done with the hope that this good behavior blooms into understanding and genuine love and goodness, and to preserve what was good in humanity from the reach of sin, thus the singling out of Noah. Furthermore, though God reaches out to all His people, those with whom He walks He protects from those who would lure them away from Him like a wedge between lovers: “I have loved thee, and I will give men for thee, and people for thy life” (Isaias 43:4). In addition, the elimination of creatures shows their purpose: Without anyone to appreciate the beautiful art He had made, God saw no use for the art itself. Truly they are magnificence sculptures from the hand of the true Artist, made to lead your mind to God, with their charm or qualities being gifts that give you insight into His love. However, leaving the literal, it is important to remember that Israel’s history is your history, and this glimpse of man’s fall from original innocence to the state in which God is sorry for making them shows your descent from birth to a place of sin. When mortal sin is present, the natural goodness of a person is rent like a garment, injured to the point that God has pity on the person for the complete lack of true love that is in them. Even venial sin covers the soul with bruises, disfiguring the beauty of the face upon which the Lord longs to look: “Shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely” (Song 2:14). Thus, before baptism or a conversion that brings one to confession, there is a thread of natural goodness, represented by Noe, for there is nothing that is utterly bad, even when fallen in sin. What weighs on your nature, what drags you beneath both Christian and human dignity, God wants to wipe out: “I have trampled on them in my indignation, and have trodden them down in my wrath” (Isaias 63:3), for He is a passionate lover, not wanting anything to harm the love between you and Him. There is infinite compassion for the places in your heart that are too wounded to reach into His love: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up” (Isaias 61:1), and He wants to wipe out all heartbreak and sin in an endless ocean of love: “He will turn again, and have mercy on us: he will put away our iniquities: and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea” (Micheas 7:19).