The perfect timing...

I had been thinking about this small lesson from the Lord a while ago and I never made the time to sit down and write about it so I guess now is as good of time as any. Our small group on Tuesday nights started reading through the book of Genesis and that's what reminded me about this lesson on God's timing.

We read last week about the ark and Noah's family. Usually when you read these chapters in Genesis you can learn a lot from Noah and his faith and obedience to the Lord. While those are great lessons, something new stuck out to me a few months ago when I was reading Genesis. If you read closely it says that once the flood had subsided THEN God said to Noah's sons "be fruitful and multiply" and their family line continued (Genesis 9:1). This is a small but very interesting statement. We have no idea when all of Noah's sons got married. They could have been married for years before the flood or maybe just a few months. What stands out is that none of the wives got pregnant or had a child before the waters of the flood had subsided. I wonder if any of those three women were worried about why they were not getting pregnant? Looking back, we can see how perfect God's timing was for those women. Can you imagine being pregnant and never being able to leave a ship? Can you imagine morning sickness in addition to the nausea from being tossed by waves. Or imagine if Noah's sons had younger children before the flood? Can you imagine having a toddler aboard the ark? When looking back we can see that the Lord withheld pregnancy from these three ladies because it was BETTER for them not to be pregnant and have children at that time. I just know that if I was one of those wives I would have wondered... "God, why am I not getting pregnant? Did I do something wrong?" and it was simply because He was looking out for them. There are so many times in my life where I have not understood why the Lord was "taking so long" or why it seemed like He was withholding something from me just to be mean. We cannot think this way. The Lord's wisdom is so far beyond our comprehension. We must trust the He knows WHAT is best for us and WHEN it is best for us to have certain things. I am just so thankful that He is reminding me of this. I need to always make my requests and heart known to Him but after that I must trust that His answer really is the best thing for me.