“Then the LORD shut
him in…The waters flooded the earth for 150 days…But God remembered… and he
sent a wind…and the waters receded…and…the tops of the mountains were visible!”
Gen 7:16, 24, Gen 8:1.
We should never forget that Noah’s experience for himself and
the family was not a sweet little Sunday School story. I am sure it was one of the most devastating
things they could have experienced. Like
you and me, they had a community with friends, cousins, other family members I
am sure. They lived and breathed life
just like we do today. I am sure they
considered their future…their children… their future grandchildren…their future
provisions. I can only imagine the
anxiety and grief they must have experienced during those 150 days. What
would their future hold? How long would
their hearts be sad from the loss of those who died in the flood? Would God be faithful in restoring their
lives and rebuilding their security?
And the biggest question of all…How much longer Lord? But God was faithful in His remembrance of
this chosen family. When we read ‘God
remembered…’ it doesn’t mean God had forgotten. ‘It means that God cares for and is concerned for that person and has
decided to act on his or her behalf.’ NIV Study Bible, p. 17.
We have all been ‘shut in our circumstances.’ Maybe we are walking out the day to day life
with a loved one with an illness.
Perhaps we are shut in a situation where we have no control over time or
circumstances. Some of us are living out
a life without a loved one, with grief guiding our day. We all will experience times in our lives
when we seem to be closed up in our situational arks. We cannot see the mountaintops and we feel
engulfed by our circumstances. We know intellectually
that God is in control but our hearts convince us of something else. ‘The
heart is more deceitful than anything else’ Jeremiah 17:9. Our days turn to weeks which turn to months
as we wait for the rain to stop falling.
We send out doves looking for the proof that life will one day resume as
we have known it. We must continue to
believe in a God who believes in us. We
must look up to God for the mountaintops to be visible instead of looking at
our circumstances.
When the water has receded and it is safe to come out of the
ark, not a moment will pass before God throws open that door and restores the
lives of those He loves. He knows when
the danger has passed… He knows when our hearts have changed…He knows when our
minds have been transformed. Not one
moment passes when we are not on God’s mind.
He will not keep us in our arks one second beyond the time required to
accomplish His work for the benefit of His sons and daughters. You can be sure that
the mountaintops will be visible again one day soon.
“For I am confident of
this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the
day of Christ Jesus” Phil 1:6.
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