"Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 'Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you'" (Genesis 9:8-9).
Barely one millennium after the creation of the world, things had already become so bad that God decided the only way forward was to destroy everything and start over. Only a handful of animals and eight human beings survived, because God had provided them a way of escape. The ark for which He had given detailed instructions spared their lives, so when the flood was ended and dry land returned, they were alone, but they were alive.
God knew that people would continue in wickedness. "The intention of man's heart is evil from his youth," He observed (Genesis 8:21). But despite that, God chose to make a covenant with Noah and his family, a covenant that would reach to all his descendants after him.
This covenant, recorded in Genesis 9, mirrors the one God made with Adam and Eve in Genesis 1. Just as Adam and Eve were to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth, so too were Noah and his descendants. God was restarting His plans for the world with Noah and his offspring.
This wasn't based on anything the people would do. The next section of Genesis 9 relates the story of Noah getting drunk and his youngest son sinning against him. The sobering truth is clear: people after the flood were just as wicked as people before the flood.
But still, God made His covenant with them. He promised to be their God and to bless them not because they were amazing human beings but because they were His special creations, and He loved them. He loved them not because of what they could do but because of who they were. They were special because He had made them, and nothing could change that.
God wants to be our God!
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