Water saved Noah and his family from a corrupt earth. The same water drowned almost all life. Water was blessing and curse at the same time. Later we read that the Nile River was the source of life, but then of plague to the Egyptian People. The Sea of Reeds (sometimes called the Red Sea) was the trail of redemption to Jews, but of destruction to Egyptians. In the desert rocks gave our forefathers water, but oases of water in the same desert poisoned them. In Deuteronomy we learn that rain can nurture crops, while heavy rain can destroy crops. Elijah found God's hand in the same water that others found Baal. Water has been a source of life and of death to our people and to the world.
The Ying Yang of creation holds that anything can be good or bad, blessing or curse, life creating or harboring death. The story of Noah teaches that good and evil are personal decisions that people make. The lesson of all Scripture holds that the destiny of every person is in his or her hands. We are what we desire to be.
There is much in life about which we have no control. Our genes do create limitations on our abilities. The homes that we come from do create in us many of the values by which we live. Yet, we believe that every person has the privilege to decide to be good or bad. We do believe that life is like half a glass of water-half filled or half empty. We do believe that we can look at difficulties before us as problems or challenges.
Save people, nothing in this created world is good or evil, except if we make it so. Water can be blessing or curse, and so can fire and so can scarcity and so can plenty. Noah found blessing in water that was the killing agent of the rest of civilization. We are challenged to find possibility for good in all that surrounds us.
And that is the universal lesson of Noah.