WAITING FOR THE WORD

And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark… – Genesis 8:15-16a

We have made allusion to Noah’s virtue of PATIENCE. Here we see a related attribute: knowing the Value of God’s Word; learning to be calm, while waiting for the Word. The last recorded divine communication prior to Genesis 8:15, was a week before the flood began, when God instructed Noah to come into the ark with his household and the paired living creatures (Genesis 7: 1-4). Even when “the Lord shut him in” it was a SILENT GOD that did (7:16). Through the weeks of torrential downpour and raging waters, God’s silence was “ultra-loud”!

Even when “God remembered Noah”, only His wind-energizing, water-assuaging, fountain-sealing, window-stopping, rain-restraining acts were seen. His Voice remained hidden (8:1-2). God Who brings the winds out of His treasuries, holds them in His fist, and sends them on assignment as He pleases, chose to be silent (Psa.135:7; 148:8; Pro.30:4).

God is never a ‘waster’ of words. His words are too precious to be thrown about. Every counsel, commandment and instruction from the Lord demands prompt and total obedience. Until the last instruction has been obeyed, you and I have no right to demand a fresh one. God’s initial Words were sufficient to take Noah through the long and seemingly “uncertain” season of storms in the belly of the flood. Noah had no hand in steering the course of the ark! There is no biblical record that God interjected with daily re-assurances or angelic encouragement; yet, Noah displayed such rare patience and orderliness. Somehow, he must have devised a technique by which he kept count of days and even recognised and respected God’s Sabbaths in life’s stormy seasons. He also utilised his God-given intelligence to know when the ark rested, when to open the window for the first view out, which spies to send and when, and how to interpret their feedback.

Though Noah saw the ground dry the first day of the first month, yet God did not instruct him to go out of the ark till the twenty-seventh day of the second month. God consults our BENEFIT rather than our DESIRES, for He knows what is good for us better than we do for ourselves. His delays are not denials. His restraints are rewarding. Nothing can surpass God's time of mercy; when the mercy is ripe for us and we are ready for it. In spite of all his reconnaissance survey, Noah did not dare to leave the ark until He Who had instructed him to enter the ark gave the go-ahead for him to disembark! He Who had said “COME into the ark” now said “GO forth” – meaning that He was always there IN the ark!

We must acknowledge God in all our ways, and set Him before us in all our moves. Through the SEASONS of SILENCE, God prepared Noah for CHANGE, for a new world, so that he may learn how to WAIT for the WORD! How far have I obeyed the instructions received from the Lord in times past? Am I truly willing for a new, fresh, life-transforming directive from Him? Am I really ready for divine change, for a new phase, for a new level in the journey of destiny?