Flood
Do you ever just feel overwhelmed by… well… everything? I was reading through my news feed today and there was just nothing that I could take comfort or solace in. There was simply no good news. And then as I jumped into Genesis 6, I was met with this:
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
And I think… this is us. Nothing has changed. We are still living out the mistakes of our very distant ancestors. And while I am not sure a flood is in store for us, I am struck that we are simply getting our just desserts. We have corrupted the earth. The flood of bad news is simply our fault. God may not be causing the metaphorical torrential downpours, God promised not to do that again, but maybe God is watching our sin run its course.
Then I remembered a song from my senior year of high school (I will let you figure out the year). It played all over the radio. And not Christian radio, that didn’t exist yet. It took over the airwaves for a while. The song was Flood by Jars of Clay. They were not a Christian band, they were Christians in a band. But this song, was based on Genesis 6 and it everyone was singing it. The song begins like this:
Rain, rain on my face
It hasn’t stopped raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become one with the mud
And that is how it feels doesn’t it, that we are becoming one with the mud. That the corruption of the world is threatening to envelope us. And what is there left to do other than to look to the heavens and pray for God to lift us up above the muck.
But if I can’t swim after forty days
And my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
And that is our prayer for today. Lord, lift us up. Amen.
P.S. Enjoy this flashback . . .