It’s God’s Job. It’s My Job.

Tonight, as I was tucking the kids into bed (which lately means lying down next to them until all five are snoring peacefully and then, if I’m still awake, sneaking out of the room), Lil Prince asked me a question. “Mom,” he moaned, “Why is it taking sooooo looooong to get to Heaven?”

“Oh, Honey,” I giggled, “You’re only four years old! God still has bunches and bunches of earth jobs for you. But, you know what? I definitely know how you feel.”

Then I started thinking about jobs. And then I started thinking about Noah, cause I can’t seem to stop thinking about him lately. I guess, in my opinion, Noah had the biggest job that has ever been given to any human besides the Man Jesus.

Here’s why I think that’s true:

God did not build the ark; He simply gave the instructions. He might have reminded Noah of the plans and encouraged him along the way (gosh, I hope so!), but He did not have an almighty hand in the building. That was all Noah’s job. So, what if Noah, beaten down by the trolls townspeople, decided that God would work things out for good whether or not he built a large boat in the middle of the desert? I’ll tell you what would have happened! God would have wiped out the entire human race. He would not, and obviously this is my opinion but based on everything I’ve seen of God and read in Scripture over the course of the past thirty-one years, have plunked down a finished ark and saved Noah from his disobedience. He sometimes does rescue us from our missteps, but it’s never a guarantee.

What is guaranteed is that God will always reward our obedience (though not always visibly in this present world).  And as soon as we’re sure we’ve received our instructions, here the townspeople will come to save us from them! That’s also a guarantee.

God didn’t tell me that he might redeem my precious husband and let him truly feel like a man redeemed (God’s job, not mine). He told me that He was going to do that. It might not happen through the avenues I imagine in detail when I pray. It might not happen as quickly as I’m hoping and pleading. But if God said it was going to happen, it’ll will rain in the desert! It’s really just a matter of time.

My job is to not grow wearing in the waiting….to not grow weary in doing good (i.e. dishes, laundry, bedtime, cleaning, sewing, cooking, diaper changing, sleeping alone). And that’s hard to do, especially considering some mysterious health problems (which is why I tried that cleanse in the first place) that had beaten me down several months before my husband left. I’d consider myself to be one of the weakest women, physically anyway, on God’s green earth (I’ve never been one of the more energetic), and life takes a toll on me very quickly. If any woman has ever needed a husband, it’d probably be me. Still, I know that God knows that. And I’m doing my very best to find my husbanding in Him.

It might not seem fair, this job He’s given me to do. But I’m as certain of my instructions as Noah was of his. If I fail, if I grow weary before the waiting is done, it won’t mean the destruction of the human race. But it will mean a missed opportunity for obedience. And no amount of rational thought will deter me from building this ark home.