Begin With Gratitude No Matter When. No Matter What.

“You’re looking at a storm that’s changed the character of a significant part of our state, and this is going to require, not just the emergency response now and the days or weeks ahead…this is going to require years of effort to be able to rebuild, to come back. Basically, you are looking at a 500-year flood event.”

That was the sober assessment of Florida’s Governor DeSantis after Hurricane Ian slammed into that state ten days ago like a championship boxer pummeling a scarecrow. You’ve probably seen images of the damage. How would you react if that was your house under water or missing a roof? Would you be filled with feelings of despair and helplessness? And what would have been your first order of business after emerging from your hiding place after the storm? Would you have gotten busy picking up the pieces to rebuild, or first sought a source of clean water? Maybe you’d look at the mess and decide to move and just leave it all behind.

It’s not just the people of Florida that have had to deal with disaster. Residents of Puerto Rico, Cuba, other Caribbean islands, the Carolinas—even Canadians way up north have watched their houses get washed into the sea by recent storm activity. And it was just months ago that we here in Flagstaff were dealing with fires and floods. Even if you weren’t directly affected by those disasters, you might be facing another kind of storm—a lingering illness, a loved one’s death, a ballooning debt. How should you, as a Christian, handle the challenges? Begin with gratitude. That’s right. Be thankful. Today, the Old Testament believer Noah will teach us how to begin with gratitude no matter when, and no matter what. Listen to our sermon text.

Governor DeSantis claimed that Florida was hit by a 500-year flood event. Well Noah and his family survived a once-in-the-history-of-the-world flood event. Not just a city or a state, but the whole world, including all the then-mountains were covered with water. Do you remember the cause of this worldwide flood? It wasn’t global warming, but global warping. Genesis 6 reports: “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground…’ 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” (Genesis 6:5-8)

Many scoff at the Bible’s report of a worldwide flood. Others question how a supposedly loving God would send such a flood for the purpose of killing off most of humanity. For starters, Jesus refers to the flood of Noah’s day as a fact. We also see evidence of a worldwide flood in the vast sediments and fossils we find all over the world. And as to how such a devastating act could come from a loving God, well, God is loving, that’s why after announcing the flood he still delayed sending it for 120 years. He also didn’t keep his plans of destruction secret. He shared it with Noah, who in turn warned the people of his day of the impending doom. The ark that God directed Noah to build was a football field and a half long and four stories tall. It had the capacity of 570 modern railway boxcars. In addition to all the animals that boarded, there was plenty of room for human passengers. But no one, other than Noah’s wife, their three sons and wives were aboard the ark when the rain started to fall.

Parents, when you warn your children for what seems like the hundredth time about not touching a hot stove and yet they do it anyway, do you feel sorry for them? Of course, you are concerned for them, but there’s part of you that just wants to roll your eyes and say, “Didn’t I tell you?”

Likewise, while our God is loving, he is also a holy God. He cannot continue to tolerate sin and rebellion anymore than the Arizona sun can keep from evaporating a puddle of water on an exposed sidewalk. But unlike the Arizona sun that burns relentlessly, the holy God provided the people of Noah’s day with a shield from his judgment. He gave them a refuge in the form of the ark, and he sent a faithful preacher who directed everyone to that lifeboat. Unfortunately, the whole world, except that preacher’s immediate family, ignored him.

When Noah and his family finally emerged from the ark a year and ten days after they had gone into it, they were greeted with a totally altered landscape. Continents were thrust up so that tall mountains like the Himalayas now poked the upper atmosphere. Family and friends were gone. The homes that they had built for themselves were destroyed. How do you start picking up the pieces after a year-long, worldwide flood? What was Noah’s first order of business upon leaving the ark? Look for fresh water? Find a place to build a house and plant crops? Certainly, those were pressing matters. But what was the first thing that Noah did? He built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings on it.