Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking him to meet you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
– Genesis 8:1-12
Devotion
Sometime waiting is dreadful. Other times, it’s not too bad. Waiting is easier for me if I have good people to wait with. Noah and his family were on the ark with the animals for over a year. Not only did they go through the storm of God’s judgment on the earth, but after it was over they had to wait, and wait, and wait. It wasn’t time to move on yet.
I think that by nature most people don’t like to wait. Maybe that comes from the fact that we believe the next thing in our life will be better that where we are now. Sometimes it comes because we’re on our agenda, and not allowing God to do what He needs to do in His time. Don’t be afraid to send out a dove, but don’t miss the joy of waiting with the greatest friend of all.
The Big Question
Is there something that you’re waiting for? Do you feel like the birds you send out will never stop coming back? What can you do when you’re waiting to experience the joy of waiting with Him?
Conclude in prayer and silence reflecting on what you’ve learned.