|
Think On These Things Newsletter>
Persistence, Patience, and Faith
May 27, 2008
It is raining hard this morning. The rain is coming down steadily with a melodic - almost hypnotizing - sound. Regardless of where I am in the house, I can constantly hear the raindrops slamming in unison against the roof, the cars, the pavement, and the ground itself. Splashing into puddles that have begun to form in low spots of the yard. When the intensity of the rain increases, my heart beats faster, keeping up with the drops. After a certain period of time the steadiness of the rain began to get on my nerves.
“Enough!” I want to scream. Visions are forming of the dog coming in with muddy feet having to be wiped off. Being stuck inside the house. And pony league baseball games being postponed - with only three games left in the season.
Yet in Texas, unlike other places of the country (particularly this year), it does not often rain for days on end. Even though we usually are badly in need of the water. Oddly enough, when it does happen, I seem to get tired of the rain more quickly. Then there are times when steady rain seems pleasant. Like today when the rain drops the temperature and cools everything off - following days of 95+ degree weather.
My mind wanders - as it is wont to do - this time, back in time to Noah and the ark. Forty days and forty nights of rain would get certainly get on a person’s nerves. Particularly when you consider that Noah quite literally had no place to go. Nothing to see outside but water - water falling and water keeping them afloat. With that ridiculously tiresome and stomach upsetting ship’s roll on the turbulent, endless sea.
God told Noah it would rain for forty days and forty nights. But he did not clue Noah in on the one hundred and fifty days that the water would prevail upon the earth. Although the waters would most likely be calm. With no one left alive but Noah and his family, et al., there would be no reason for the seas to be otherwise. However, that in itself would drive them crazy. Not to mention the smell of the animals.
All of which makes my being tired of hours of steady rain rather minuscule in comparison. Other places in the country are also enduring weather much worse than we are experiencing here. As I see the devastation that the storms have caused on the news, the people whose homes were destroyed are happy to be alive. In extremely difficult circumstances to be sure, but still alive. When the rain finally stopped and they exited the ark, Noah and his family were also glad to be alive. Even though they were the only people in existence.
It is all in a person’s perspective. But the overriding lesson is patience and faith in the Lord. He does not tell us about the “one hundred and fifty days” in which the situation will prevail. As theologians and others tell us, the Lord’s time is definitely not the same as ours - although we have no idea of the size of the chasm between the two. We simply have to persist, have patience, and trust in the Lord to guide us.
Peace be with you.
|
|
|
