What do Noah, Abraham, and Joseph all have in common? Well lots of things! But specifically they all had to wait and rely on God's promises. I was recently doing my devotion in Genesis, and really praying about the direction God has pushed me towards. I think what I have been looking for are quick fixes. I wanted the whole picture, I wanted it now, and there had better be fast results. I think my mentality of that stems from all the fiction we absorb. Movies and books have fast plot lines. Anyway, my frustrations grew when God kept telling me to wait. I felt that my time was wasting away because he wasn't working on my time-line. However, I had forgotten that God’s timing is perfect, and he is utterly dependable. *I am going to write a longer post on Joseph for tomorrow*
Let’s look at Noah. Here is a man who found favor in God’s eyes at a time when God was grieving the creation of man because of their wickedness. God told Noah, “I have found you righteous in this generation” so build an ark and gather your family and the animals because I will destroy the earth and mankind with water. God gave Noah direction and a promise. Yet, Noah had to build the ark. Think about that, here is a man who is super old (he is six hundred years old for the flood) and has to build an ark. He would appear just like Chicken Little to the other people. Think of the amount of time he would have had to doubt God’s word, to turn away from his original purpose because it seems ridiculous or impossible. Think how Satan must have been whispering in his ear like he did to Eve by saying, “Did God really say that?” Now, I don’t know if any of those doubts really occurred to Noah, but I could see these issues arising in my own life. Yet, Noah persisted and finished the ark. I don’t know how long it took for him to complete it, but I bet it wasn’t a week. Noah had to rely on God completely. He had to trust that God would do what he said. And not only trust for a day, or a week, or a month, but for years and years. And God proved himself faithful. Genesis 5:28-9:29
Let’s look at another example with Abraham. Now Abraham has a lot of amazing examples, but I think I will only look at two with you. The Lord told Abraham (his old name was Abram) “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing..” Genesis 12:1-2. Okay first off, God doesn’t tell Abraham where to go. He just says go to where I will show you. Abraham had to take the first step of faith in following God. God didn’t reveal the whole plan to Abraham. God only told him to go and he would be blessed. I don’t know about you, but the thought of totally, wholly, relying on God to the point of leaving everything familiar and comforting in your life, would have terrified me. But Abraham, the great man of Faith in the bible, did as God asked. He traveled and traveled for most of his life; it was not a quick trip, but a journey with God. And the blessings God poured on Abraham are numerous; you will have to read it for yourself.
The second point I would like to make, is that God continually promised to make Abraham’s offspring numerous—more numerous than the stars in the sky. “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6. He didn’t doubt or laugh at God as Sarah his wife did. Rather he BELIEVED the Lord could do what he said without questions. Now, again, this was not an immediate result. No, no. God continually promised this to Abraham and didn’t give them a child until it was beyond a doubt God’s doing. They were both very old when Isaac was born. Genesis 11:27-21:7
Part 2 to follow!!
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