What in the world is God doing? And what does religion have to do with it? I know it may sound a little strange to ask, but asking strange questions is sometimes what teachers do.

Man is very prolific in religion-building. But, very often, his religions have very little to do with what God is doing. So, we’ve been looking around in the Book of Genesis for some clues—as I imagine he runs a little deeper than we may first expect.

First, a question: who is this we’re dealing with? His name is not God, you know. God is what he is, not who he is. The word God has been used so much, made its way into our language in so many different ways, that we have to take care to be sure what we’re talking about. Here, in the beginning of the Bible, what are the names God is called by—and what do they mean to us today?

I have a sense that a lot of us are frightened these days. It isn’t the hair-raising fear that gives us an adrenaline rush. It is the slow dread that creeps up on us in the night and denies sleep. And it really doesn’t help to say, Don’t worry, everything will be all right. I’m not so sure that FDR’s We have nothing to fear except fear itself, would be any help either.

It might help a little if the politicians and the news media would stop trying to scare everyone to death. What the politicians have done is impress upon our minds that the situation is truly beyond their control.

It isn’t merely that they don’t know what to do. There really is nothing they can do to roll back the laws of human nature. If we can believe the news sources available to us (I’ll admit that is a very big if), we are entering a new era in the world.

It must have been terrifying being on Noah’s ark for all those days—closed up inside, unable to see the sky, hearing a pouring torrent beat the roof, and feeling the whole shop rock to and fro with the waves. But, you know, the most terrifying part of this experience must have been knowing that, outside the ark, everyone and everything, was dying. The people who had been cooped up in that boat emerged totally changed.

It’s no wonder that the tradition of the flood is found in nearly every tribe on Earth. After all, every one of us is descended from these eight people. We are all one family. Genesis 11 tells us that the whole earth was of one language and one speech.

That certainly is not the case today. How did that change? What can these few chapters in Genesis tell us about how people in the ancient world dealt with issues we still face in the modern age?