DAILY DEVOTIONAL – May 4, 2021

“Our New Normal”

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, as we patiently await Your final return to this earth, lead us and strengthen us in faith that we may see You even now and live a life that pleases You.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 24:36-39

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,  and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 

Devotional – “Our New Normal”

When my family and I first moved to Omaha, many people told us that visiting the Henry Doorly Zoo was a “must.”  We have since visited the zoo many times with our kids, and were even members up until the pandemic hit.  As things continue to slowly return back to normal after having dealt with this pandemic for over a year now, we certainly do hope to renew that membership, especially now that my son is old enough to really enjoy the zoo.

Speaking of the zoo and normalcy, every time I am at the zoo my mind is filled with wonder and amazement as I recall the Biblical story of Noah and the flood, and how abnormal that whole situation was.  From other parts of the Bible, we know that Noah certainly was not a normal or typical man of his day.  Genesis 6 tells us that, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

As we learn later, Noah found favor in God’s eyes only because, as it says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”  Noah was not less sinful than anyone else.  Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord because God saw that Noah genuinely feared the Lord above all else; even above his own depravity.  Although we don’t know exactly how, Noah would have certainly been living a very different and “abnormal” life, in so far as the wicked and violent world around him would have understood normal behavior to be.

Noah almost certainly lived in Mesopotamia when he built the ark, and though there were rivers and some larger bodies of water, from what we understand about the ancient land at that time, there was certainly no reason anyone would have seen as to why Noah needed to build a boat that was a third the size of the Titanic!  Let us also not forget, that had there been any clear, visible signs that a world-wide flood was coming, if there was any sign of imminent doom and destruction that “normal” thinking minds back then would have been able to recognize, there should have been more than only 8 people saved.  However, the Lord’s assessment of the hearts of mankind was true.  Noah was the last of the righteous people in His day that lived by faith, and who spoke God’s truth.  Hebrews 11:7 tells us, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”  The Lord revealed to His Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 2:5 that Noah was a “herald of righteousness” – a man who spoke and proclaimed the truth of God and feared the Lord above all else.

Jesus tells us in our text for today in Matthew 24 that the very last days leading up to Christ’s final return in judgement and salvation will be like the days of Noah.  The world will be increasingly lost to the wickedness and violence that the hearts of sinful mankind love to worship, and it will become increasingly difficult to find those who are truly faithful and willing to be “heralds of righteousness” and who live in “reverent fear” concerning the yet unseen coming judgement of God.  Just as in Noah’s day, Jesus says people will be going about business as usual, living normal lives, and allowing the worship of routine and the complacency of normalcy to deprive them of the true life of joy and salvation that God has promised to give us through a life of true faith and fellowship with Jesus, that is only seen as increasingly abnormal today.

It certainly isn’t normal today for someone to live their life for Jesus.  It isn’t normal today for people to consider their daily work as a call from God and the vehicle through which He wants His Gospel to be heralded.  It isn’t normal today for people to consider the ministries, events, and fellowship of the church a reason to cancel all other plans.  It isn’t normal today for parents to raise their children and manage their time and commitments as if their child’s faith and relationship with Jesus is more important than school, sports, dance, tv, video games, or any of the other hundreds of distractions present in our children’s lives.  It certainly isn’t normal today for people, or families, or even churches to live out their lives “in reverent fear” of the sure and certain yet “unseen” events that are coming in the Final Day of the Lord, and that will come upon us just as unexpectedly and swiftly as the flood waters came upon the world.  There is much about living a true life of faith in the fear of the Lord that is far from normal in the world in which we find ourselves, and yet, this is what gives us hope that the Day of Christ’s return is drawing ever more near, for Jesus said, “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

When Noah had finished building the ark and God had summoned all the creatures of the earth to the ark, we are told in Genesis 6 that it was the hand of the Lord God Himself that “shut Noah in.”  Noah and his family were secured by the hand of the Lord, just as He promised.

Seeing the perfect Son of God hanging on a criminals cross, being faithful to His Father even to the point of pouring out His righteous blood for the sins of the world that He did not commit, paying a penalty He didn’t deserve and a debt He did not owe, is anything but normal, and yet, it is only through faith in the miraculous death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, only through faith in the same Word and promises of God that Noah lived by, do we have the hope of being “shut in[to]” the ark of the true Church that has been built by the nailed pierced hands of Christ our Lord, and that Jesus promises not even the gates of hell will triumph over.  That true Church of Christ is the church comprised of those who put their entire hope and faith and trust in Jesus, and who like Noah, and because they believe the Word of God, live lives abnormally and wholly dedicated to walking with Jesus for the glory of God that is soon to be revealed to the whole world and before which every knee will bow.

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” – Revelation 22:20

Thanks for spending time together with me for another daily devotional, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow.  Amen.