Mrs. Kemp's Clubhouse: Waiting in the Ark

The story of Noah provides several important lessons. The first couple are obvious:

As Mrs. Cathy taught the kids in chapel, Noah was obedient.

"These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God." Genesis 6:9 (ESV)

Second, God keeps his promises. As the kids sang in chapel, "The rainbow's in the sky to show God's promises are true."

But there's a third lesson I find applicable, and it has to do with waiting.

First of all, it took years for Noah to build the ark, yet he continued working and obeying even though his actions were counter-cultural, since the rest of the world had rejected God.

Then after the ark was complete, after Noah and the animals were on board and God shut the door, Noah waited another 7 days before anything happened. Imagine the tension: Was it really going to rain?

Next came the 40 days and nights of rain. Here is South Louisiana, we can relate...especially after the hurricane season we've just experience.

And then … the rain stopped. I'm picturing some major celebrating going on among Noah's family. But then Noah looked out the window, and reality set in. They weren't going anywhere for a very long time. In fact, Noah and his crew spent a year aboard the ark.

I can certainly feel Noah's pain. This year especially, we've all had lots of opportunities to practice the art of waiting.

Waiting for restrictions to be lifted. Waiting for the next phase. Waiting to be able to get out and do the things we used to do. Waiting for God to answer our prayers.

Sometimes we see little signs of progress, but then we recognize we've still got a long way to go. God's timetable is not always what we think it should be; sometimes things take a lot longer than we expected.

I have things I've been praying about for a long time. I don't know what prayers you are waiting to see answered, but I know God is faithful.

I'm imagining Noah again, and I'm wondering how he passed the time while he waited for the floodwaters to recede. I imagine he might have enjoyed the antics of the menagerie he had around him. We can do the same, enjoying the delightful, funny, sometimes exasperating but always loveable creatures God's given us to love and care for...