I remember while in Seminary one of my Professors said “We all want to be out there doing the work of the Kingdom before Christ’s return, but if Jesus returned today, the work you are doing to prepare for the work you will do is just as important to Him!” Preparation is important to God! I had never thought about this much. In my own life, I have always been quick to get out there and get busy for God, but I have learned over time, that God is just as interested in what He is doing in us, as what He is doing through us!
God’s preparation process is so important! Abraham waited years for the promise of a miracle child. Joseph waited years in slavery and prison before God promoted him to rule Egypt. Jesus Himself waited and prepared for 30 years to do 3 years of ministry. In our day we wait and prepare for 3 years to do 30 years of ministry!
Then what about Noah? God spoke to Noah and told him to build an Ark. Although the time it took to build it is unclear from Scripture, it may have taken from 55 to 75 years! Now when you read that number it doesn’t seem like much, but 55-75 years of hard labor, building something you really don’t know is going to work out, requires tenacious faith!
When you’re in preparation, all kinds of doubts arise like, “I wonder if all this is going to be worth it? Here I am building this great boat, what if the rains don’t come?” II Peter 2:5 tells us, “And God did not spare the ancient world – except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.”
Noah was surrounded by people who had no faith in God, and no fear of God. Genesis 6:5 tells us, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Noah was immersed in a culture of unbelief and wickedness. He built that Ark and preached righteousness. He must have been scorned, mocked and ridiculed as he built.
Noah must have thought, “I wish those floods would come now and deal with these people” but he stayed faithful to God’s preparation process. God always has a process to prepare His people.
AW Tozer said, “God never uses anyone greatly, unless He tests them deeply.” We must be people who are willing to wait on God’s timing and allow Him to prepare us for the work He has called us to.
Noah had spent all those years in preparation; what a sense of dread at God’s judgment he must have felt when the rain began to fall, and what a sense of relief he must have felt that he had been obedient to God’s voice! All those years of preparation saved him and his family from complete annihilation. In that moment, he must have felt like all the hard work of preparation was worth it!
Noah couldn’t have known the fullness of what God intended to do. They had never seen rain before, let alone a deluge of rain from above and floods breaking loose from beneath the earth. It wasn’t just the Ark that saved him, it was his obedience to God as he prepared for what was to come.
Today, I want to encourage you to be patient with God’s process. You may not know everything God is preparing you for, but if you stay faithful, when the time comes, it will all make sense. God knows what He is doing, and I believe God is preparing the Church for a great flood of revival. I have spoken to many Pastor’s who have prayed and believed for many years and yet have seen nothing.
I have to believe there were times along the way when Noah felt like giving up, when he wondered whether the promise of God would come to pass. Yet, he was faithful and when the time came, God did something which had never been seen before; something which had never been done before, yet not one moment of Noah’s preparation went to waste. I want to encourage you by letting you know…. there is not one moment of your preparation time that is going to waste. God is getting you ready for some great breakthrough… some great miracle! The sounds of revival will be heard in the land, the sounds of the abundance of rain.
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