“And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided…And the waters receded continually…the waters decreased continually…and it came to pass that the waters were dried up from the earth.” Genesis 8, selected
In the trials of life, it can often feel like the flood is overwhelming us. It seems we will never see day again, nor recover from the calamity. Yet here in the story of the great flood is a beautiful principle of the way God delivers and restores us.
It’s a process.
In fact, process is the way God most often works. We cry for a miracle of deliverance, and in His love and mercy, He sometimes does that immediate work—and oh how wonderful that is when He does! Most often, though, He has us go through the process, trusting His promise and hanging on in faith.
We should take great comfort in Noah’s story. You can imagine the awesome fear they must have felt to see destruction come on the earth, to see all that they knew destroyed. They floated in that boat for one hundred and fifty days, having nothing but the promise of God to hang on to. When the day came, the rain ceased…and they waited. The water started to go down and the boat finally rested on Ararat. Yet they had to wait longer. They watched the mountaintops appear, the mud begin to dry out, and still they waited.
But the day came when Noah knew it was over. They came out on dry land into a new world and a fresh beginning. The hard time was behind them and God met them with blessing and a new life.
Be encouraged today…and trust His process!
Bible study: Isaiah 25:9; Acts 14:22; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Peter 5:10
(Photo by Marco Fono on Unsplash)