The Patience of Noah

Scripture – Genesis 7:6-12: Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. 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. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Observation – (Write down what you see in the scripture.) I’ve often heard it said, as an illustration of faith, that it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. I never noticed what it says here. Apparently, it wasn’t raining when Noah and his family entered the ark. And it was another seven days before it started. I wonder what went through their minds during that week.

Application – (Write how you will be different today because of what you have just read.) Sometimes it seems real clear to me what God wants me to do. So I do it and nothing seems to happen. Then I start wondering if I missed something. On my good days, I remember I’m called, not to get results, but to be faithful. God uses our faithfulness as part of His plan. Noah did what God commanded. It wasn’t his job to make it rain. I will remember that today.

Prayer – (Write out a brief prayer.) Lord Jesus, your faithfulness is perfect. If you say you’ll do something, you will. Help me trust you today. You don’t work according to my schedule. Please give me a patient faithfulness as I serve you.