When the snow piled up to 10 feet deep on the northern plains, the people who run the nation’s flood insurance program realized that the spring thaws would bring terrible flooding.
They appealed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help. The agency bought radio ads and ran a television spot for three weeks in March, covering the threatened states. They showed the Director imploring viewers in the predicted flood zones to get flood insurance “before it’s too late.”
But when the floods came to Grand Forks, North Dakota, one of the worst-hit cities, only 73 people had purchased policies.
Why?
One resident whose basement filled with water said, “We never, ever had water there before. Not even a trace of it.” It is a very human reaction: “It never has happened — it never will.” Human — natural — and fatal. It is typical of those the Bible tells us of who will come in the last days, doing as they please and saying, “Where is the promise of His [the Lord Jesus’] coming? ... All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
“We never, ever had water before.” But the water came.
“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.”