“If we are waiting for someone to come alongside us and usher us into obedience, we might be waiting at the end of the aisle for a long time. So the question becomes, Will you rise above the doubt that comes when doing this alone?”- Nicki Koziarz
” ‘For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.’ And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.”- Genesis 7:4-5 (ESV)
In Chapter 8 (“Please, God, No More Hard Things”) of Flooded, Nicki Koziarz asks if you’ve ever found yourself whispering these words to God. Please, God, no more hard things.
Because loss, the ending of what was, hurts. And at times loss makes looking ahead incredibly hard. For sometimes, Nicki observes, time serves as a gift to our wounds that eventually turn into scars. However, at other times, it seems that time applies salt to our wounds.
Furthermore, Nicki wonders if at any point in Noah’s process he cried out to God for no more hard things. For example, the tiresome mental state of being responsible for such a massive structure. Also, after everyone boarded the ark, the waiting began. In addition, Nicki notes that waiting is often harder than working.
Yet, our impatience never changes God’s timeline. Nicki explains:
“That’s one of the greatest struggles with obedience – time. It’s easy to wait on God when we’re waiting on a same-day miracle. But I have found the greatest things God has done in my life have come from a long season of waiting. Faithfulness is not built on momentary agreements and arrangements with God. It is built through days, weeks, months, and years of showing up with expectancy, hope, and belief.”
In conclusion, as we wait we often look to the rest of the world to assist us in our calling. And then, like Noah, we face reality. The rest of the world continues to life as they see fit. That’s why the belief you hold in God – and yourself – carries great importance.
Today’s question: What helps us rise above doubt – and usher us into obedience? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “What God commanded Noah to do”
