11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:11-12

For 40 days and nights in rained and poured. I recall seeing artist renderings of people surrounding the ark floating about with their arms flailing. By then, though, it was too late. Thousands of animals and 10 people were on board. The text doesn’t state it, but they probably had to load enough food and supplies on board for the duration, though, at the time no one knew how long that would be.

The alternative to listening to all the restless animals day and night was to watch the people drowning and the rain continuing to fall. Yes, the floodgates of heaven opened, but so did the springs on the earth.

Today many Christian songs use this flooding as a theme, and it makes sense. Are the people less evil than in the days of Noah? Do we need a refreshing from above, a flood of compassion in these last days?

I think we all know the answer to these questions. We need the Holy Spirit more desperately now than we ever have. There are more temptations, more stumbling blocks, more reasons for our faith to grow cold and distant. We need a fresh filling of the Spirit of God, not only on Sunday morning during official worship times, but every day.

We need His a refreshing today.