1/9 Genesis 6:3 (KJV)

3 And the LORD said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years."


Before the flood, there was a water barrier in the upper atmosphere, like a continual, thick cloud cover. It filtered much of the aging effects of the sun. Man's DNA was as God originally designed it. Today we see DNA increasingly corrupted in each successive generation. Those early men with uncorrupted DNA lived to be hundreds of years old. But instead of increasing in a relationship with God and growing in wisdom, they grew increasingly evil. They began to take multiple wives to fulfill their lusts. They filled the earth with violence. Their thoughts were only evil continually.

This is the setting for our verse for today. The Spirit of God contends with every human being throughout his or her life. He faithfully convicts us of sin. He pleads with us to turn to God and live in a relationship with Him. He strives with us to win us over to truth and goodness.

The reason God limited our lifespan is that man is flesh. In the Hebrew there are two words that both can be translated flesh (basar shagag). The first word usually means a physical body, the second can mean the same, but it also means "to err" or "to go astray". Man is flesh gone astray. We perverted God's intended use of the body. We took a good gift and use it in an evil way. One-hundred-twenty years is more than enough time for Him to get through to us. If by that time we have not yielded to His Spirit, we never will, not in a thousand years, not in a million. The striving of the Spirit will only bring greater judgment upon our unrepentant souls. It was for our sake that God limited our lifespan.

Prayer: Lord, help me not to resist your gentle and good Spirit today or any day of my life. Keep me from being "flesh gone astray". Help me be as patient with others as You are with me.