All About the Process

8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. -Genesis 8: 8-12 (NKJV)

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I love reading the New Testament because I get to see God in a more intimate way and how He made decisions, spoke to people, I get to see His character, how He loved, how He punished, and how He ached for His people to trust Him. It’s in the Old Testament where I see God as being a Father- our Father. 

One thing I realized about God is that He’s all about process. More often than not, God, thousands of years ago, and God in 2016 is a God of process. Sometimes He does things quickly, like the waving of a wand- abracadabra and POOF- it’s done and fast. But when He decides to mold and make our characters, the things we want can take weeks, months or years.

In this account of Genesis, after the floodwaters covered the land for a long time we see how God through the process of evaporation made Noah and his family wait before they could get off the boat. Sure, as soon as the rain stopped God could have swiftly taken away all that water, like water quickly funneling down a bathtub drain. But, God chose to let the water naturally and organically recede until the land began to show again. It took 150 days (5 months) for the floodwaters to recede (verse 4). And then it took another 2 months for the peaks of the mountains to show. Noah periodically tested to see if it was safe to exit the ark by sending a raven, and then a dove to test the earth’s conditions. It took months and days before humans could exit the boat. How long has God kept you on “the boat” to wait for dry land (aka your desires)?

Often in life, especially in this fast moving technologically advanced world we want things to come instantly. Our supermarkets are filled with instant food because we’re too impatient or busy to make dishes from scratch. Our technology devices contain instant features. Our travel is instant with fast trains.

And so it’s natural that we want God to answer our prayers with instant abracadabra POOF- it’s there. God wants to answer our prayers and give us what we want, as long as our desires are righteous, selfless and within the boundaries of His plan for our lives. But, we must understand that our answered prayer is sometimes a process that might take weeks, months, or years. Delay doesn’t mean no, it means what it means- not now but later. In delay, our faith in God will be increased, our trust of Him will become stronger, and our patience will be exercised.

Just like with Noah, let’s resolve that as we send out our doves for job applications, meeting the future spouse, getting a mortgage approved, getting that promotion at work, getting a big break in a music career, or buying a car- that if the dove comes back in the form of a rejection letter that God is working to provide His absolute best for us in His perfect timing. And that there will be a day when the dove will not come back (verse 12), symbolizing that we would have received our blessing. I’m sure Noah and His family was ready to get off the boat with those stinky animals the day the last drop of rain fell, but they too had to wait for the process of evaporation. Noah would be able to relate to our waiting, but perhaps he would tell us to allow patience to have its good work in us so that we are complete lacking nothing (James 1:4).

Happy Saturday!