Wait for the voice of God

I can’t believe the end of summer has come. I look back at these past few months and see so much that has happened in my life. It has been the most challenging yet rewarding. Trials and heartache kept coming and Jesus kept drawing me nearer. Since the end of the school year and summer began, I started to go over the words the Lord had spoken to me regarding last year and this year, which were “Breakthrough” and “the Comeback”. I’m one who when the Lord says something to me, if He allows me to, I will shout it from the rooftops. I know from my past that when God speaks, He will do it. His voice is life. It’s everything. Plus, it’s in His written Word. God is not a man that He should lie. He who promised is faithful. It’s who He is. The Lord then reminded me of the life of Noah. Noah probably seemed like a fool to many. Claiming that there would be a flood when no one had ever even seen rain. Building a boat and facing the laughs, mockery, you name it. I told the Lord, I don’t care if I sound crazy because I know You are faithful. Come what may. So since the beginning of the summer I have been studying the life of Noah and taking notes. There’s a lot the Holy Spirit revealed to me, but what I will focus on right now is the scripture that stood out the most to me and keeps coming to the forefront of my mind with every question that I present to the Lord in prayer. Before I get there I have to give some context on the life of Noah.

When Noah was born, his father Lamech in Genesis 5:29 said, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.” I love that his father heard from the Lord and spoke into his son’s life as soon as Noah was born. Reading this led me on a side study in Genesis 3 when the serpent tempted Eve and God cursed the ground because of sin. Like I’ve mentioned before, the Word has become a treasure hunt for me. It’s so fun to be led throughout the Bible. Anyways, back to Noah. There was wickedness in the earth and it says in Genesis 6:5-6 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Wow. I read that and can’t imagine the Lord’s grief. Just like in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, sin separated them from God. Sin grieves Him. But Genesis 6:8 says, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Listen to what the Bible says about Noah in verse 9, “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” Noah was just, perfect and take hold of this…he walked with God. Adam and Eve also walked with God in the garden. In the days of Noah, it says all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. Because of that, God asked Noah to build an ark and gave him instructions on how to do it. May we never build without the leading and instruction of the Lord. God said in Genesis 6:18 “But I will establish My covenant with you”. Noah was to bring in his wife and sons and every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort to keep them alive, male and female. Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. Noah got on the boat with his family and the animals, and the rain came and the flood waters destroyed all living things. Life on the boat began. I got to Genesis 7:24 that reads “And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. Ok. I don’t know about you, but this is the first time I read that and actually realized and was shocked by how long Noah and his family were on the boat with a bunch of animals. I’ve read this a million times. I learned about Noah and the Ark when I was a little child, but never have I thought about living conditions on that boat. I’m sure it was far from comfortable. It was not the life they were used to living, PLUS everyone they ever knew had died from the flood. Take a moment to think about that. They just watched everyone they knew die and were the only ones to survive. Then they had to move their living situation to be with tons of animals and do everything they could to keep them alive! How could I ever complain?? Another thing, the waters prevailed for one hundred and fifty days, which is about 5 months. I went on a cruise for a week and though it was amazing, I could not imagine staying on that boat for 5 months with animals. Even after the waters subsided Noah and his family had to be still and wait inside the ark for the earth to dry and further instruction from God.

Alright, let’s go to Genesis 8:14-16. And in the second month on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.” This was a little over a year later! I’ll just say that Noah is a man of the voice of the Lord. Noah waited until the Lord said to exit the boat, when he could’ve seen dry ground and rushed to get his family and every animal off. Learn to trust and wait on the Lord. Noah made an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings using every clean animal that he kept alive. Then the Lord made a covenant with Noah that never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth, and the rainbow will be a sign of the covenant between God and the earth. Next is the scripture that marked me. Noah’s sons went out of the ark, and from them the whole earth was populated. Genesis 9:20 says, “And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.” This! Noah became a farmer! When God spoke to Noah to exit the ark, He commanded him to be fruitful and multiply on the earth(Genesis 8:17). Noah began to be a farmer! Noah became what was needed to obey the Lord. He did what he had never done before. This may sound small and simple, but this is everything to me. Noah had new land and new ground to cover. When you step into a new place with the Lord, it requires something of you. That may look like something new. Something you weren’t expecting. Learning to farm is not easy! New life and new land meant a new assignment. It was time to put his hands to the plow! Noah becoming a farmer has been on repeat and I believe that’s what the Lord is doing. Wherever the Lord plants you, do whatever is needed to be fruitful and multiply. Break up the fallow ground, it’s time to seek the Lord! Seek Him. Fallow ground is ground that has yet to be cultivated. Break up the fallow ground and seek the Lord! Put your hand to the plow. Don’t get out of the boat until God says. Wait for the voice of God, and do what is needed to obey.