Seven Days in a Dry Ark
“For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.”Genesis 7:4 (KJV)
We usually picture Noah’s faith in the building: years of hammering on dry ground. But there is another moment that is easy to miss. God told Noah, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth.” And then Noah went in, and waited.
Seven days in a sealed ark, on dry ground, with the animals, and no rain. If anyone was laughing outside, they had seven more days to laugh. Then the text says simply: “And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.”
Obedience isn’t only doing what God says. Sometimes it is sitting still after you’ve done it, before anything happens. Noah had already done “according to all that God commanded him.” Now he had to trust that God would do what he said.
If you’ve obeyed and nothing has changed yet, you may be on day three of seven. Keep waiting. God keeps his word to the day.
Count it yourself
God gave Noah 7 days of warning before the rain (Genesis 7:4), and the waters came “after seven days” (7:10).
Where have you obeyed God and are still waiting to see what he will do?
Faithful God, help me wait as well as I work. You keep your word to the day. Amen.