Every inclination of their hearts was evil

I love the story of Noah, don't you? I mean what's not cool about a huge boat that saved a family and a bunch of animals from a massive flood? But it's what prompted the flood that I want to speak about today. In Genesis 5, we see one of the few times in scripture where God lets us in on His personal feelings. You can go read it for yourself, but he says that He saw how great man's wickedness was and that every inclination of his heart was toward evil. (Sounds like today, doesn't it?) Then it says that the Lord was grieved that he had made man and "his heart was filled with pain" verse 6. Wow. God crying, God hurting. We don't often think of Him that way. Yet didn't Jesus weep at Lasareth's funeral, didn't He have great sorrow when He gazed at Jerusalem and predicted its destruction. God hurts, God cries, God grieves and God loves deeply. Don't think for a minute that when He looks down upon all the violence and hatred going on today on the earth, that He isn't hurting as well and crying for us.

Then, why doesn't He do something, you might ask? Well He is. Just like in Noah's day, He sent an Ark, His Son, so that all who climb on board, all who live in Him, will be saved. So what is He waiting for? He's waiting to give everyone a chance to enter the Ark. After He gave Noah the command to build it, it took quite awhile to build. During that time, I'm sure people came by to ask Noah what he was doing, thus giving him a chance to warn them, to tell them of God's upcoming punishment. Yet, in the end, no one entered the Ark but Noah and his family.

Today, God is sending His people abroad to warn the world of His upcoming judgement and that to be saved they must enter the Ark of Jesus Christ.

Sad to say. Most will not heed the warning. But when all have had the chance, God will send His flood again, not in water this time, but in fire.

And I have a feeling from the looks of things...time is running short.

Speaking of His return, Jesus says in Matthew 24:

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark