It takes tremendous energy to pioneer those routines – that’s why it is so hard to start a new job, for example. You have to learn the expectations of the new job, yes, but there’s a great deal more to it than just learning how to do the job required of you, isn’t there? You have to figure out what time you should get up in the morning in order to be ready for work on time, what is appropriate dress for your new job, what the typical mood of the workplace stays within (light-hearted, serious, unpredictable?), what pace to set for yourself during the work day, and many other unknown territories that are currently off the edge of your mental/emotional map. During the pioneering phase of this mapwork, you are barely able to drag yourself into bed at night, but after a while – a few weeks, month, six months –it gets easier. The unknown becomes the routine, and your mental/emotional map is pushed out further, to buffer against the dragons living past beyond its borders.
But what would happen if your whole map was erased?
Genesis 9:1-17
“Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it." 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." 17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
In loosing the flood upon the earth, God was wiping the map clean. Well, almost. It wasn’t a complete wash (pardon the pun), since God kept a remnant from which to build again in the person of Noah and those with him on the ark. When Noah, his family, and all the animals emerged from the ark, there was still some ragged bits of the mental/emotional map left to navigate by. But not much.
So, God established a new map for Noah and his descendants. He set out a new agreement upon which He would interact with humanity once again. In it, God required certain things from Noah, and He also made certain promises, the main one being He would never destroy earthly life by flood again. He offered the rainbow as a sign of His promise. Noah was made to understand that Cain’s murder of Abel would not be tolerated, that there would be a blood for blood restitution on those who killed another. Blood was also a factor in how people would eat – there was to be no lifeblood remaining in the meat they ate. The animals would no longer tolerate the presence of human beings as they did on the ark, and they would flee and hide from people. In addition, Noah and his family were expected to be fruitful and multiply their numbers upon the earth, filling it up.
How long was it before Noah found the edge of his map again? “Beyond here, there be dragons.” For you, Noah, the dragons lurk not too far away. Get your pioneering boots on, there’s a lot of mapping to do.
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