Speaking of sons, when our two boys were in their teens, oftentimes certain expressions among them and their peers included the word "wicked." Something might be wicked good or wicked funny. It might even be wicked bad. You get the idea. It meant something to those kids, so the bemused parents just raised their eyebrows and let it be.

However, in today's passage, life seems to suggest such degradation as can only be classified by the conventional understanding of wickedness. It's truly bad. The content includes the taking of beautiful wives and alludes to gigantic men of old. Scholars differ on their interpretations of these particular beings, so those matters can be left for others to explore. What is clear is that it got so wicked on earth that God is sorry that he had made man at all. Then grace appears and help is on the way.

We are living in another time of wickedness beyond understanding. Without God's promise to send back his risen Son to rescue his own, our future would look hopeless indeed. Only our gracious God has the means and the grace to deliver us, his children, from death unto life.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1 NIV).

Miriam Loghry