Faith on Dry Land

Last Sunday at chapel, we talked about Noah building a boat on dry land. He was not by an ocean, not even by a lake, but building a boat on parched ground. What faith it must have taken to leave his house day after day and hammer away on the boat God told him to build. What faith it must have taken to keep believing in a promise of rescue when there were no clouds in the sky!

I wonder how often Noah questioned what he was doing. Did he ever look at the clear sky and wonder if he had heard God correctly? Did he ever grow tired of waiting for the rain?

I think most of us have experienced our own version of this.

What has God promised you? What are you praying for that makes you wonder if God is listening? What are you called to do that feels like hammering on a boat day after day with no rain in sight?

Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is not wishful thinking, and it does not mean we never have doubts or questions. Faith is trusting in the character and promises of God even when we cannot see what God is doing.

Whatever you are facing, you can trust that God is faithful.

But trusting God does not mean that we get to see the whole plan.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” I love this image because it says a lamp—not a stadium light showing us the next hundred yards. Sometimes we only have enough light to see the next step.

Maybe instead of asking God to show us the entire plan, we need to ask, “What is my next faithful step?”

Building faith in a dry season can be hard. Sometimes the ark we are building is inside our own hearts, preparing us to weather the storms ahead. So how do we keep building when we cannot see the rain?

Return to Scripture. Choose a Psalm, a Gospel, or a short passage to read or listen to. Great podcasts and audio Bibles make this easier in our busy lives. It does not have to be complicated. Just take time to let Scripture speak into your life.

Practice obedience. Take one faithful step each day. We do not have to know where the entire journey is taking us to take the next step. Noah did not build the ark in a day. He kept showing up and building.

Stay in Christian community. Faith was never meant to be lived alone. Find people who will pray with you, challenge you, encourage you, and remind you of God's promises when you have trouble remembering them yourself.

Remember God's past faithfulness. Write down the ways God has carried you before. Remember the prayers that have been answered, the people God has placed in your life, and the times you did not know how you were going to make it through—but somehow, by God's grace, you did. Remembering God's faithfulness strengthens our hope.

Maybe you are in a dry season right now. Maybe you have been praying for a long time, and there is still not a cloud in the sky. Maybe you are tired of hammering away and wondering if anything you are doing matters.

Keep building.

You do not have to see the rain to take the next faithful step. You do not have to understand the whole plan to trust that God is with you.

Sometimes faith simply looks like picking up the hammer again tomorrow.