“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18 

The other day I was thinking about Noah. I was pondering his story. He was given instructions by the Lord to build an ark. He was told that it would rain and it would flood the earth. He needed to be ready for when this would happen to save him and his family. Consider these facts. He was six hundred years old at that time. He had never seen rain. He was to build a boat that was 450ft X 75ft X 45ft and it would take one hundred years to build it. Can you even imagine? I have stood in front of the replica Ark in Williamstown Kentucky and I look like an ant in comparison.

He was mocked, ridiculed and even called a fool by the population that surrounded him. The patience, long suffering and hard labor had to be very challenging. But all this was forging in him a strong inner core. Something so valuable.

Noah was given detailed instructions on building the Ark itself. I am sure though, many questions came up about things that he was not given an answer to until the time had come for the completion of the work. He had to trust and obediently continue forward for one hundred years! Wow!

Most of the time when the Lord has asked me to do something, I do not get the full picture or all the details from Him. It requires of me to just obey and continue forward as I trust Him for the next bit of information. Just as I’m sure it did with Noah I believe it also forges out in me patience, long suffering, and trust in the Instructor. I have found, just like I’m sure Noah did, He is always faithful in the end. 

Can you imagine having to wait one hundred years to see the fruition of what God told you to do? I’m so thankful that most of the time for me, it’s a very short period of time. In the process I have learned I don’t need to know or understand. I just need to obey and keep going. If Noah could wait one hundred years I think I can wait a day or two.

Noah, thank you for your incredible example of listening, trusting and obeying an order from God, even though it took one hundred years for the end result.