RIDING THE FLOOD

This year, 2010, will go down as one of the most unpredictable years in recent history. As I write this, we are barely into the fifth month of the year and the devastation that nature is bringing is staggering. We have had major earthquakes in Haiti, Turkey, Chile, China, northern Mexico, Sumatra, Indonesia, and now Puerto Rico. The loss of human life in several of these disasters has been huge.

There was a sense of the unreal when suddenly a volcano erupted in Iceland and the dust cloud that followed shut down air traffic in northern Europe for days. The scene became more surreal when the scientists explained that this was a small volcano and they were concerned about the big one in Iceland that is now overdue to erupt.

Natural disasters seem to be reaching the flood stage.

But the flooding that is affecting us is not just in the world of natural occurrences. We are seeing a veritable flood in other areas, as well. Pornography has become a flood. Moral laxness has become a flood; casual sex has become the norm. Drug abuse is a flood. TV’s “60 Minutes” recently did a report on drug use among third- and fourth-year college students. It is estimated that in some senior classes, 60 percent of the students take neuro-enhancers (drugs) to help them focus when studying, writing a term paper, or taking a test. They are taking these stimulants without any regard for side effects or addiction. The amount of illicit drugs coming into our nation is beyond the flood stage, as is the hunger for the recreational high that drugs and alcohol brings. Is anybody listening?

We truly are living in the days that the Apostle Paul described as “perilous,” meaning savage days, “times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear] (2 Timothy 3:1, Amplified).

There are numerous biblical references to floods. The flood of Noah’s day is the most well-known of the Bible stories. It is important to remember that this big flood was orchestrated by heaven and had a divinely ordained purpose to it—the issue was not water but the fulfilling of God’s plan.

As I watched the news a few days ago, I was stunned at what suddenly happened in Tennessee. A rainstorm dropped an unprecedented amount of water on middle Tennessee in twenty-four hours. Thirteen inches of rain in twenty-four hours and the downtown area of Nashville was flooded, with some hotel lobbies under ten feet of water.

I was working on this article when the storm hit Nashville and I heard the Spirit of the Lord say to me, “So it will be with the coming storms; they will come without warning and catch many by surprise.”

A few days later, on May 6, the stock market plummeted 1000 points in just a few minutes before recovering a good portion of what was lost. It appears that the wild swing was the result of human error and caught everyone by surprise.

The Holy Spirit also quickened to my heart Psalm 29:10-11 (NIV):
”The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
“The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.”

The only time this Hebrew word for flood is used in Scripture is here (in 29:10) and in reference to the flood of Noah’s day (Genesis 7:6-10). The flood of Noah was an event directed by heaven to bring about the fulfillment of a divine plan. I believe God is allowing the floods of our day to bring to fulfillment His divine plan for this world and for His people.

The restricted use of this word for flood is very comforting to me, especially when the words of Psalm 29:10 are followed by.
“The LORD is enthroned as King forever.
“The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.”

The Lord is reminding us that not only did He control Noah’s flood but His everlasting reign controls all the details of our life and destiny. He ties His control not only to the flood but to the destiny of His people.

For Christ followers, the sudden outbreaks of all types of flooding are not to be times of fear. We need to imprint on our hearts the meaning of the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 29:10-11: “My sovereign Lord sits eternally enthroned as the king/ruler of the flood. He watches over His people. He promises to fill them with peace and strength—the peace of knowing that He is sovereign and in charge, and the supernatural strength to handle all that comes their way and to find His ark of safety for them.”

“For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water” (Genesis 7:17-18 NIV).

Noah and his family were safe because Noah listened to God, stepped out in faith, and followed His instructions to the letter.

Our ark of safety in the coming storm is constructed by our faith and obedience. Our ark will ride on the surface of the waters just as Noah’s did!