WaterWorld

“Everything that breathed and lived on dry land died.”    Genesis 7:22

God hurt.  “His heart was filled with pain.”  He hadn’t made a mistake, but humans had made a mess.  Less than two millennia after God created and commended, He doomed and destroyed.  “I will wipe mankind from the face of the earth for I am grieved that I have made them.”

“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people…I am going to destroy both them and the earth.  So make yourself an ark.’”  Talk about a mid-life crisis!  Noah was only in his 500s. (His grandfather Methuselah was in his 900s and still going strong.)  All three of the boys were out of the house and married.  He and the Mrs. were doing well and anticipating the years to come.

But the call came to build a boat.  A big one.   A 450x75x45 triple decker.  Perfect for a 378 day/377 night cruise for eight adults and a large party of animals.  (It only rained for 40 days and 40 nights, but drying out took much longer than the deluge.)

So, for the next several years, Noah preached from his heart and pounded with his hammer, but no one repented.  As the rains came down and the floods came up, only his family was saved. 

The ark rocked in the waves and rested on a mountain. When the water receded, Noah emerged, and God reassured with a covenant that a downpour would never again destroy all life.

The story from creation through the flood is simple to summarize.

It was good.

It was bad.

It was wet.

But a rainbow ringed the sky as God blessed the new beginning.

When the skies of life grow dark, we can know without doubt that ultimately and eternally God protects His children and keeps His promises.

Rain or Shine.