In my dream, I looked back over the year and asked the Lord, “What is this?” A year of so much and so little. So much has happened and yet nothing has happened. He responded, “It is as it was in the days of Noah,” and I woke.
While not disturbed, neither was I at peace. I knew the matter warranted reflection. I grabbed a pen and pad and began to consider the words and parallels.
I began by copying Matthew 24:37-38, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day…”
My pen continued across the paper. “We have seen and experienced a nationwide shut down. A global interruption of life as we knew it. While Christ did not return, one fell to our left and another to the right.”
Surprised by what flowed from my pen, I paused. My thoughts now confirmed my surprise was warranted, as the words were weighty. I continued, allowing my thoughts to wander in pursuit of additional parallels of the past and present.
Sure, we have laid blame and taken sides on how soon the news was released, how it happened, but only after it happened. We were actually caught unaware -- just as Jesus warned us in Luke 21:34.
In fact, the day before COVID we were eating at restaurants, drinking at bars, sponsoring events and gathering in churches with no thought of worry or concern. And even after the news was made public, we did not understand, or believe, until COVID hit our shores and front doors. One by one, someone we knew was impacted.
Surely had we known what was coming we would have prepared.
Wouldn’t we? Maybe we aren’t so different from our ancestors.
Genesis 6 reveals God was grieved by the violence in the days of Noah
In the days before COVID landed on our shores, our nation was careening toward division and resorting to violence over the wrongful death of a man at the hands of a police officer.
Noah found favor with God and was instructed as how to quarantine his family and any who would listen. Regulations were set as to when and how they were to exit.
A covenant was established.
While there has been a price to pay, I can’t help but see a parallel to the return to family unity that was a byproduct of our present day quarantine. Spouses worked from home, kids came home from college, social activities and worldly distractions minimized.
We too have the promise of the floods subsiding, doors opening, and provision & hope being restored. What will we do when the door is opened wide? Will we establish a memorial, if only in our minds? Will we remember the covenant made was broken, not by God, but by man?
As with the days of Noah, we will be blessed. We will prosper and move forward. But let us not work so hard to return things to normal that we lose all that has been gained.
These words are not intended to influence, they are merely my reflective thoughts and not intended to present anything more than my experience. However if they do stir you, I pray they stir you to love freely, forgive easily, and remember tomorrow is not promised.
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