God's Timing

I discovered on our cruise how thankful I am to live on land! Although I enjoyed my trip, seeing nothing but open seas can be rather intimidating. One morning as I was being a deck junkie, I looked straight ahead at all of the water we were floating on and I immediately thought of Noah. I wondered how it must have felt to be locked up on a massive boat with every kind of stinky animal for over 4 months, never seeing land. The Bible says the water rose 20 feet higher than the tallest mountain and the water covered the earth. You can imagine how restless Noah must've gotten. After 40 days, Noah sent out one of his doves to find dry land, but the dove came back. He waited another 7 days and sent the dove out again. This time, the dove brought back an olive leaf signifying the water was receeding. After another 7 days, Noah sent the dove out again. She didn't return, which meant she had found a place to set her feet.

How many times have we waited for an answer from God and He wasn't answering fast enough for us? I know I have some situations in my life that it seems like He is dragging His feet on! And as trivial as it may sound, waiting on God's timing gets the best result. Psalm 37:7 says "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret..."

I also love the verse in Genesis 8:1 in talking about Noah's adventures on the flooded earth, "And God remembered Noah." Do you think God had forgotten He had sent Noah out on the water? No! In the Old Testament to remember means to pay attention to. Although God may seem to take longer than we want in sending answers to our prayers, He remembers us and is paying attention to our needs. And in time, we will get answers and resolution on our trials just as the dove brought the leaf back to Noah.