There are some real champions in the Old Testament when it comes to waiting.  Maybe we could learn something from them.  If there was such a thing as a “Waiting Hall of Fame”, I’d nominate Noah to be the first inductee.  You remember Noah — the boat builder who spent forty days and forty nights on the ark during the great flood.  But that’s only part of the story.

God commanded Noah and his family to board the ark seven days before the first raindrop even fell.  That must have been a long week, sitting in a big boat in the middle of the desert.  But then came forty straight days of thunderous rain, followed by 150 days of flooding.

Most Biblical scholars believe that, all told, Noah and his family spent about 377 days on the ark.  (Read it for yourself in Genesis chapters 7 -8)  That’s over a year on a stinkin’ boat full of stinkin’ animals….and a wife (she probably didn’t smell very good either)….and three sons….and three daughters-in-law….in close quarters.  Don’t tell me Noah wasn’t crawling the gopher wood walls.  Don’t even hint that Mrs. Noah wasn’t begging her hubby to bust open those doors.  I’ll just bet those three young couples were craving a little peace and quiet away from all the animal chatter.

Even after the ark landed and the waters receded and the ground dried up, Noah stayed put for two more months.  Why?  What was he waiting for?  “Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark.'”  Ah….that’s what.  He sat tight until God gave him the okay to move on out.

Some people are lag-behind types, while others tend to run ahead.  A person who understands the value of waiting on the Lord for direction is quite rare.  Maybe that’s why God declared Noah to be a righteous man and choose him to begin again.  God could trust him to wait.

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  Isaiah 40:31