"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).

Thus, we see God's summation of mankind's situation in the world before the flood in the days of Noah. Although this is a picture of what the situation was like almost 6000 years ago, it could well describe the world in which we live today at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Our minds today are continually bombarded and polluted with all manner of evil. At work or school, it is difficult to escape this bombardment. Even our homes are not secure from this since much of the fare that is offered on television is unfit for human consumption and continues to worsen with some of the newer productions on the network channels as well as on some of the regular cable channels, to say nothing of the so called "premium" channels. The same can be said of most of the movies and many of the books that are available. Have you stopped to think how difficult it is to find a movie that is "G" rated to which you could take the whole family? Sometimes, even a movie that is rated "G" leaves much to be desired! Then, over the past few years the Internet has become very popular, although offering much that is good there is a dark side too and wickedness and evil is available with a few mouse clicks.

Whether the date is 4000 B.C. or 2000 A.D., man seems to have changed very little. This world is not getting any better but, rather, it remains much about the same in every generation. The generation of Noah was evil and the generation of Moses was evil (Deuteronomy 1:35). Peter's generation was evil (Acts 2:40). Paul said that Jesus Christ "gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world" (Galatians 1:4).

The world of Noah's day walked in darkness, but there was a ray of light; that light was manifested in a statement about Noah. "Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). Noah was different in a polluted world; he walked with God. It was not easy for him, but he did and it will not be easy for us in our generation. Noah, because of his walk with God, found "grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8), and we can too, if we will walk with the Lord. Let us then seek to "walk with the Lord in the light of his Word," as Noah did and we too will find blessing from the Lord.