A Flood and a Fresh Start

by Autumn Dickson

This week we read about a couple of classic Bible stories, one of which is Noah and the ark. Let’s read a couple of verses.

Noah was led to build and ark, and then he went into the ark with his sons. God shut them up in the ark, and then this happened.

Genesis 7:19-20, 23

19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

The earth was completely covered with water, and everything was destroyed except for Noah, his family, and the animals who went with them.

The Guide to the Scriptures teaches us that, “During Noah’s time the earth was completely covered with water. This was the baptism of the earth and symbolized a cleansing.”

There is so much symbolism here, but I want to talk about one of the most important aspects of this symbolism. When we are baptized or take the sacrament, our sins are washed away and we start over.

The earth was filled with violence and corruption. Every imagination and thought of the people was evil continually.

That is a lot of cleansing. I have a feeling that you have not yet reached this point in your life. I have a feeling that if you’re reading Come Follow Me posts, your imaginations and thoughts aren’t evil continually. Maybe you’ve got some flaws that you can’t kick, but I’m guessing that if you’re inviting good into your life, you can’t possibly be thinking about evil continually.

And if God can wash away all of that evil at the time of Noah, He can wash away your sins too. He can make the baptism as “big” as it needs to be. He can “flood the earth” so to speak if that’s what it takes to wash away the sins that you do have. And that little tiny piece of you that is trying to do well and good will be preserved and provided with an opportunity to start over.

Every Sunday when you take up that little piece of bread and that little cup of water, you are remembering how the Lord paid for your sins. There was a tremendous amount of suffering, both in the flood and in the Garden of Gethsemane. Honestly, it’s crazy to think that there was more pain in that one night in the Garden of Gethsemane than there was during the flood.

But it is done. The suffering already happened. The price was already paid. It was a gift.

The gift offered is not automatic salvation. When Noah and his family were preserved, it wasn’t automatic salvation. They weren’t going to immediately experience joy just because all of that evil was all swept away. They still needed to build something after the water was gone. What would they build in the blank slate that the Lord gave them?

The gift is that the Lord is going to provide yo