Waiting to Get There
Scripture Reading — Genesis 8:6-14
After forty days Noah opened a window …
Genesis 8:6
Good things hardly ever happen soon enough. Like the cramped back seat of a car on the way to sun and fun at the beach, the confines and problems of this world make us impatient. When do we get out of this world? When will the new world appear? When will righteousness and justice flow like a never-ending stream?
Noah’s ark comes to rest, but the deadly waters have not yet receded. When it’s safe to open a window, Noah does so, and he sends messengers to see how far the threatening waters have drawn away. When the dove comes back with an olive leaf, Noah knows things have returned to normal.
On the first day of the first month of the new world, Noah removes the covering of the ark and sees dry ground. But the journey is still not at an end. Not until the earth is completely dry can Noah and his family leave the ark and begin to work the ground again. How long is this going to take?
Years later Passover would mark the first month of the new year for God’s people. But it would still take years of impatient slogging through the desert before they entered the promised land.
It’s been two thousand years since Jesus Christ told his disciples he would return soon.
How long will it take, O Lord?
We ask, Lord, that our worship today may restore our faith and hope in the coming of Jesus Christ. Grant us patience to wait for the new creation. In your name, Amen.
About the author — Arie C. Leder
Dr. Arie C. Leder is the Martin J. Wyngaarden Senior Professor of Old Testament Studies at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He previously served as pastor at Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church, Trenton, Ontario, and with Christian Reformed World Missions in Latin America. He teaches courses on the Pentateuch and on historical books of the Old Testament.
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