Swept Away in God's Mighty Flood

Water is one of creation’s most powerful forces. When a river rises and floods its banks, nothing is safe. Concrete pilings and roadways, cliff faces and forests are all vulnerable to being swept away in a moment by the relentless rush of the current. As the waters carve their way through any obstacles, all manner of strange objects can be seen bouncing along in the surface of the flood, yanked from their former homes and swept away to places unknown.

Now consider that image for a moment. Have you ever felt like that’s your life? Circumstances have overwhelmed you, and you’re just one of the helpless objects caught bobbing in the surface of a torrential flood. Plans are pointless, goals or dreams are completely out of your control, and you’re simply being carried, against your wishes, toward a destination you don’t even know. It’s a painful feeling, but it’s a universal one. Sometimes it comes from momentary conditions that, given a day’s time, will pass. Sometimes the floodwaters seem as though they’ll never end. But regardless, you’ve probably felt that same “flood feeling.”

Now let’s consider that thought from another angle. Do you realize that, if you’re a Christian, the flood imagery is one way to describe what’s happened to you? You are awash in a river of grace, swept away by a torrent of mercy, adrift on the mighty current of God’s good purposes.
Consider what the gospel says about the whole direction of your life. You have been saved. Rescued. Ransomed. Redeemed. At a point in time, your life took an unimaginable plot twist. Once you were going astray, rebelling against God, hating and being hated. Then God the Father saved you through the work of Jesus the Son applied to your heart in the power of the Spirit. You have been saved.

But there’s more. You are being saved. The Spirit in you wars against your flesh. Old desires are being slowly strangled, replaced with new affections. You are a living renovation project, and God will not rest satisfied until you match the blueprint in every detail. The work will not be complete until you love God more than all created things and love all created things for his sake. Until you love your neighbor and spouse and infant son; your Type-A businessman neighbor and his teenage, tattooed, Gothic daughter; your Starbucks barista and the grease-stained mechanic who changes your oil; as you do yourself—indeed, as God himself loves them. The work won’t be complete until you experience the joy of the Trinity throbbing in the core of your being, until you talk and think and act and love like Jesus would, in your shoes and in your life. That’s what God is after. Unlike a human contractor, he will not go over budget or skimp on quality. He is committed to this project. You are being saved.

And finally, you will be saved. Life is not an endless cycle of same old, same old. A finale is coming, the ultimate denouement when all mankind will stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account for every injustice, every broken law, every moment of rebellion. Creation groans for that day, as does everyone who has ever suffered unjustly. And yet you know, as does every guilty conscience, that you have no hope of standing on your own merits on that day. But here is the final good news. When the floodwaters of judgment reach their zenith, you will be brought safely through them. When the judge of all mankind finally calls every human being to account, you will find that the judge is also your defender, your advocate, Jesus the Righteous One. He will plead for you. You will be saved.

This is what it means to be adrift on God’s redemptive river. You have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved. Yes, you can and must participate in this process. And your participation affects how well you float. Your folly can cause you to become stuck in a whirlpool, your sin can make you drift aimlessly into stagnant water, your willful ignorance can leave you bound in the mud. You must never act as though you can float any old way you want. But never forget: if you’re in the flood, the current doesn’t depend on you. Someone else put you there. Someone else carved the riverbed. Someone else let loose the floodgates. Someone else will pluck you from the waters at the other end. This much you can count on.

Hold fast. Enjoy the ride. You’re going somewhere—and nothing can stop God’s mighty flood.