Sometimes when we read the Scriptures it can be the simplest phrase that jumps out and grabs us. It was like that this week when I was reading from Genesis 7. I was reading along in the story of Noah. How many times since childhood have I read that story over and over? I’ve read or heard it a million times. But I never seemed to read verse 10 in quite the same way before. In verse 6 we learn that Noah was 600 years old when he built the ark. A ripe old age, but not out of his prime yet in those days. Verse 7 tells us that he and his family entered the ark. Verses 8 and 9 continue with all the animals entering the ark. Then comes verse 10. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
Now wait a minute! Seven days? I just saw the movie “Noah” at the theatre a few weeks ago. We almost never go to a movie in the theatre, but this one we had to take in. I knew that there would be some ‘dramatic license’ taken, as there usually is when Hollywood gets a hold of history or the Bible. As I recall the entry into the ark, it was full of suspense and adventure. Chase scenes, wondering if Ham’s newfound girlfriend would make it onto the ark and fulfill their prayers for another wife for one of the lonely sons, giant rock creatures who were earthbound angels fighting valiantly against the evil warriors. One of the bad guys sneaking on board the ark (oops! Spoiler alert!). Noah hanging from a rope as the doors close, fighting off the enemy as the waters shoot as geysers from the ground and floods rush up around the ark. It is all intense, nail-biting action as the ark lurches and rolls as the water begins to lift it up in the midst of all the violence and mayhem. It takes a few moments to catch your breath again once you know that Noah and his immediate family all make it on board the ark. The scene was heart-pounding, adrenalin raising, arm-rest-gripping in true Hollywood form.
Then there is the Scripture. Noah and his family, it seems just entered the ark, followed by all the creatures and after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth. Talk about anticlimactic! What were they doing in there all that time? Seven days? Now that is faith. Was the sun shining when they went into the ark? Did they see any rain clouds coming at all? Or did Noah and clan just walk on board in total trust that what God had said would come about even with no indication that anything was different from the day before? Even though the scene from the movie was gripping and exciting, I want to have the kind of faith that the real Noah had. To me, that is where the real action and excitement is. To be able to have the kind of trust and faith that would allow me to sit on board a big floating zoo for seven days before it even began to float, before there was even a drop of rain to promise floating.
The real Noah was willing to wait for God’s promise to be fulfilled. So often in Scripture we miss the importance of waiting. We live in a world and a culture that despises waiting. We want everything to be instant, our coffee, our service, our gratification, our answers to prayer. Waiting is something to complain about. If we have to wait, then something is wrong. But the Bible is full of people who had to wait. Noah is just one of the first. Abraham and Sarah waited 10 years for Isaac. Jacob worked 14 years for his chosen bride. Moses led the people of God in the desert for 40 years before they entered the Promised Land. You get the picture. And I get annoyed if my hamburger isn’t ready when I pull up to the drive-through window!
God works in the waiting. That is a really hard concept to deal with. Waiting is an act of faith. We like to make faith into a product of Hollywood as well. Big and bold and dramatic faith that moves mountains and makes for good movies is what inspires us. Faith that sits and waits doesn’t do so much for us, but that is the kind of faith that we often find in the Biblical stories – the stories like Noah and his family sitting in the ark for seven days waiting for the rain to come.
God gave us a vision for healing in our community five and a half years ago. It is a grand vision, one of First Nations leadership and bringing the hope and healing of Jesus to a community of people who carry so much hurt. Our hearts are desperate to see things changed and made new in the lives of these people we love. We have done all we can to make this vision a reality, but we wait. And wait. And we wait on God to bring it all together. I didn’t think it would take this long, but I wonder if Noah thought it would take so long for the rain to fall. I wonder if Abraham thought it would take so long for Sarah to get pregnant. I bet Jacob didn’t think he’d get tricked into another 7 years of work to win his beloved Rebekkah. But God is in the waiting and my work in the waiting is to have faith. I need to be content to sit in the boat and wait for the rain to fall, for the right person to come and be the tool of Creator’s healing here. I think that is a lot better than being the one who is hanging by a rope in the rushing water trying to beat off the bad guys before the floods wash over me. The latter may provide more excitement, but I think I’ll just try God’s way and wait for the flood to come at the right time. Lord, build my faith in the wait.
