Waters from Heaven

We all learn as children that water is crucial to life. Our bodies are mostly water. Without water nothing lives. We also learn from the many storms that rage that water can also bring total destruction. We should not be surprised when God uses water to save us.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.  And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort.  They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.  And they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in. The flood continued forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.  The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.  And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.  He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.  And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.  But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters had abated.

Genesis 7:11-8:3

In today’s reading from Genesis, we witness Noah and his family experience how God uses water to save us. We normally read the story of the Flood as God’s being so angry that He destroys just about every human being from the face of the earth. Only Noah in his righteousness remains with his family.

What if I told you God wasn’t destroying human beings, He was saving us? Remember our theme for this year’s Daily Lenten Journey is the Power and Promise of God. We must learn to read everything in the Scriptures as God making good on His promise to save us.

So, the flood must be salvation. It should be no surprise He uses water to save us. He first used water to create us. “In the beginning….the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1.1-2)

If God had not allowed the Flood to destroy the evil that had spread throughout humanity, even Noah would have eventually fallen to temptation. That is a constant theme in the Scriptures. Just before it is too late, God comes and saves us.

If God was going to enter His creation through a righteous lineage, then He needed to ‘remember’ to keep that lineage safe. “But God remembered Noah.” It isn’t as if God would actually forget Noah. He is God. He can’t forget. So, God caused the waters to subside. He saved us again.

We are approaching the half-way point of Great Lent and the commemoration of the Holy Cross. The Cross was a tool of death that God used to bring life. The Flood may have been a cause of death, but ultimately it brought Life through Christ’s human ancestor, Noah.

Water saves us too in our Baptism. When we are plunged into the water we die to sin. When we emerge from the water, we are alive in Christ. When Noah entered the Ark and the Flood covered the earth, humanity died. When the waters subsided, humanity was alive again.

The only way to live with Christ is to constantly die to the world. That doesn’t mean killing ourselves. That means putting God and His ways as our priority. During Great Lent we are learning to perfect that skill through increased fasting, prayer, and charity.

Now, go drink a sip of Holy Water you keep in your prayer corner and thank God. He will always be there before it is too late. That means it isn’t too late for you either. I invite you to spend the rest of Great Lent ‘as if’ you are Noah in the Ark.

God has remembered you too. He will bring you life too. Just trust Him and do as He says. It worked for Noah. It will work for you.