Our family used to go camping when our children were younger.  Years ago, it was an economical way to get our kids out their comfort zones, teach them about working together as we set up camp, with the promise of going swimming every day!  Camping means leaving your home and all the conveniences of home to sleep under the stars, cook over a campfire, and swim in the lake to clean the dirt of camping in the woods from our bodies.  Campground bath houses were less than stellar in those days but we managed for the days we were there. Yes, camping is cool and fun for a while until you are tired of being unclean, unable to get clean, and begin to long for a hot shower at home that brings complete cleansing.

Camping in the woods, experiencing nature, along with the creatures who live there, looks enticing on the ads for camping gear and the vehicles to drive to get there.  But, in reality, camping takes more work than being at home. Yes, there is beauty and peace in nature—until the rains come and create a muddy mess where you are camping. It is then you decide that it’s time to pack up and go home where it is safe and dry.  

But what if there is nothing to go home to, no higher ground reach, and no way to avoid drowning from the high waters that just keep rising?

Genesis 7

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴ They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

¹⁷ For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. ²¹ Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Mankind was doing whatever their deceitful hearts desired—even if that meant taking from each other while destroying whatever or whoever got in their way.  Evil seemed to be in complete control of all the people on earth—except for Noah.  Only Noah remained faithful to God while living his life in ways that pleased God. 

Then God intervened with a flood that cleansed the entire earth.  This dramatic event demonstrated God’s wrath toward sin, but also his mercy toward those who seek him.  God offers a way out to safety in Him—no longer an ark, but simple faith.

“Blame the plague of sin on a godless decision. Adam and Eve turned their heads toward the hiss of the snake and for the first time ignored God. Eve did not ask, “God, what do you want?” Adam didn’t suggest, “Let’s consult the Creator.” They acted as if they had no heavenly Father. His will was ignored, and sin, with death on its coattails, entered the world.  Sin sees the world with no God in it.” –Max Lucado, The Encouraging Word Bible

Sometimes we feel like our unholy world could use another cleansing.  Hate is replacing God’s Love.  This hate gives birth to betrayals, slander, cheating, lying, and stealing—all traits of evil—and form within the hearts of those we love, those we befriend, and those who are trying to take our livelihoods from us to get all they want out of this life.  Does God know what is going on?  Our minds wonder and then wander.  Our own hearts grow cold and doubts come when challenging circumstances plague us or the sins of others overwhelm us and break our hearts. But then we remember and realize once more; “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) No one is good but God.

We don’t need a flood to wipe out humanity.  We need the blood of Jesus Christ for a complete cleansing of our hearts, minds, and souls!

So what can we do? If all have been infected by sin and the world is corrupted because of sin; to whom do we turn? Ask what others before us asked when convicted of sin in their lives; “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). The answer offered then is the answer offered still: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

God wants us to stand against sin. Sometimes we must do it all by ourselves, but it is always easier to stand with others. But if you must go it alone, remember that you have been saved by Jesus and Jesus is all we need. We also have a Counselor, God’s Holy Spirit who comes immediately to live within all who believe to guide us on our journey. 

Lord,

May we learn from the life of Noah, who was saved from the flood by you because of his unmoving faith.  May we truly believe and live a life of faith because of Jesus, whose blood was shed to save us from our sins.  As you daily lead us to higher ground thinking and behaving may we grow stronger in our faith! 

Cleanse my heart completely, renew my mind, transform my behaviors from unholy to righteous, refresh our soul by emptying all that does not belong there and filling me with all of you.  Restore the joy of you at work within me to make me all you created me to be and do.

In Jesus Name, Amen