Genesis 7:10-13 — And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

Perhaps it’s natural that my mind turned to the flood today. It seems like it’s been raining nonstop for the last three days. The water in our lake has risen from its pre-flood level past its normal level and over the reeds by the water’s edge.
What I didn’t really expect, as I thought about Noah’s flood, was that I’d be thinking about it in a way that I’d never thought about it before.
It was the bleakness that struck me. Picture it. You are one of millions standing on the ever smaller area of dry land. Perhaps you can see that one strange “building” that crazy Noah worked on for so long. There it is, disappearing into the distance, riding on the water. It’s wet. You’re miserable. The water keeps falling from the sky.
The night comes, and the morning. The water’s still falling. There’s more water … It’s like it’s coming out of the ground, the rivers are full and overflowing. It’s in the house now, you’re going to have to move to higher ground.
The night comes, and the morning. The water is like a creeping monster, eating up the land. Animals and people are panicked, fighting for the few remaining dry spots. Not you though. You’ve given up, you know.
Now the water is covering you, you struggle …
It’s later. The water has stopped falling. You are Noah. You open the window. It’s shocking to see the water, and the land — bedraggled, stripped of life, oddly quiet. The ark has become a noisy, smelly madhouse, and outside is bleak and cleaned and quiet, with just that wind blowing around. But the waters draw back. The sun dries the land. Life starts again, a new life, a new start.
There is a flood of sin overwhelming the world. It is not a cleansing flood, but there is an escape, just the same.
The ark was God’s provision for Noah’s security. God’s provision for our security is Jesus.
As I thought about the bleakness of the landscape of sin, and God’s provision for our security, I was reminded of the cleansing river of God, flowing from the temple, and of the living water that Jesus gives us. Other than the obvious connection to water, I’m not sure that these things are truly related. I am blessed though, to think how God uses something as simple, and fundamental, as water to provide for us in so many ways!