November 8 | Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 43-45; Hebrews 5

God’s Timing

I trust in you, Lord . . . . My times are in your hands. Psalm 31:14-15

READ Genesis 8:1-5, 13-18

Mag had been looking forward to her planned trip to another country. But, as was her usual practice, she prayed about it first. “It’s just a holiday,” a friend remarked. “Why do you need to consult God?” Mag, however, believed in committing everything to Him. This time, she felt Him prompting her to cancel the trip. She did, and later—when she would have been there—an epidemic broke out in the country. “I feel like God was protecting me,” she notes.

Noah too relied on God’s protection as he and his family waited in the ark for nearly two months after the flood subsided. After being cooped up for more than ten months, he must have been eager to get out. After all, “the water had dried up from the earth” and “the ground was dry” (Genesis 8:13). But Noah didn’t just rely on what he saw; instead, he left the ark only when God told him to (vv.15-19). He trusted that God had good reason for the extended wait—perhaps the ground wasn’t completely safe yet.

As we pray about the decisions in our life, using our God-given faculties and waiting for His leading, we can trust in His timing, knowing that our wise Creator knows what is best for us. As the psalmist declared, “I trust in you, Lord. . . . My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:14-15).

By Leslie Koh

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Genesis provides some specific details regarding Noah and the timeline of the flood. “After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth” (5:32). When his sons were grown (6:18), God called him to build the ark (vv. 9-22), and he was six hundred years old when he and his family entered it (7:6). It rained for forty days and nights ( vv. 12, 17), and the waters “flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days” (v. 24). During this entire time, Noah had to trust that God would do as He’d promised (6:17-18).