Genesis and Matthew XIII

But God paid mind to Noah and all living-things, all the animals that were with him in the Ark, and God brought a rushing-wind across the earth, so that the waters abated.

. . . and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son, you are forgiven your errors."

The waters of the flood decrease, and Jesus leaves the boat that had gone through a great storm, just previously. Water had been used as an example of God's power and judgment, and of His command over the elements of Nature.

God set up Nature so that an-eye-for-en-eye is the rule. What goes around does come around. The parent that does not discipline his child is only setting up the child to do greater wrongs later, and to suffer a greater punishment. Every action leads to an equal and opposite reaction, so that the laws of physics cross over into the laws of society.

But this was done only so that we could learn how to love one another with a godly love. I do not believe that God enjoys punishing His children. He is not willing to do this! But He wants us to enjoy the blessings of holiness, and to have full communion with Him, the Author of Life, and Life is everything. It is the only thing that matters, the only thing that ever was, that really mattered.

So we see God holding back, over and over again. He reminds me of a doting parent, one that wears blinders at the errors of his children. He spoils us. He lets us get away with so much. He lets Nature run its course most of the time, for that is how we learn. And God's Nature does do its work in time.

But He paid mind to Noah and all the living things on earth. Once the destructive action of the Flood was accomplished, God returned to a loving, doting focus on His children. The rushing-wind, or Breath of God, came over the oceans again. The spirit of God restored order. All was anew.

It was an early historic act of forgiveness. God forgave humanity, through the faith of our father Noah. It was the first of many New Creations.

The paralytic in Jesus' time was also an example of God letting us start anew. Gale-force winds had engendered fear and dread in the Apostles just moments before. Never is God's judgmental fury more on display than in the middle of a severe storm on the open sea. In the peace and calm that follows a storm, Jesus walks up from the shore and tells a paralyzed man, simply, "Your errors have been forgiven."

God does not need to punish us directly. Nature does. But He loves us, and is more than ready to forgive us.