“And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” —Genesis 6:6

One day the Lord’s disciples came to Him with this question: “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

Jesus answered, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (verses 37–39).

In this significant statement, Jesus not only was verifying the historicity of the Flood spoken of in Genesis, but He also was encouraging us to look carefully at the way things were before the Flood came, because these are characteristics that will be prevalent in the time before He comes again.

There are some striking parallels between Noah’s time and our time. Noah was living in his last days. He was living in a time right before judgment came in the form of the Flood. And we are living in the last days, the time before the judgment that will come during the Great Tribulation.

As Genesis 6 opens, things had gone from bad to worse on Planet Earth. The Bible tells us, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (verses 5–6).

God was grieved that His creation was living that way. This shows the heartache of God over the rebellion and wickedness of men and women.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. —Genesis 8:20

How often we call upon the Lord in our hour of need. But then when He answers our prayer, we all too often forget about Him.

When Noah and his family finally stepped onto terra firma once again, Noah did not forget about the Lord. The first thing he did was to build an altar to the Lord and offer sacrifices. It reminds me of the ten men with leprosy who came to Jesus, asking to be healed. Jesus healed them, but only one came back to say thank you. Jesus asked, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17).

We are often like those nine. We are quick to ask God for help, but what about when He answers? Do we give Him glory? Do we say, “Lord, thank You for the answer?” Or, do we thank our lucky stars or say it was good luck?

Noah remembered God. He called on the Lord and brought a sacrifice before Him. And we can do the same. One way is by reading the Bible before we go to sleep at night. And when we get up in the morning, we can make time for the Word of God.

Another way is by giving thanks to God before a meal. We call it saying grace. I think it’s a really great thing to see a family bowing their heads in prayer in a restaurant. What a testimony that is.

We can also remember the Lord with faithful giving. Proverbs 3:9–10 says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”

Noah made time in life for the things that matter. We should do the same.