For many of us, God seems far away. We don’t sense any closeness with Him. Our prayers seem to boomerang back to us without reaching God. We experience deadness in our spirit. Life is humdrum without any excitement. How can we experience the supernatural working of God and even more importantly, properly steward it so His miracles are not wasted or corrupted?
Because God remembered Noah and all of His creation in the ark, He caused a wind to dry up the water on the earth. It took 150 days until the water decreased, the same length of time water came upon the earth in the first place (Gen. 7:24-8:3). A total of 10 months elapsed before the tops of the mountains became visible (Gen. 8:5). Sometimes God works instantaneously. Other times, His miracles occur over many months, even years.
Four times, Noah sent out a raven or dove to test whether the water was gone from the earth (Gen. 8:6-12). Human responsibility and structure is required to properly steward God’s miracles so it’s not wasted or corrupted. If Noah had left the ark too early, he would have drown, wasting 100 years building the ark.
We position ourselves to hear God once we carry out our responsibilities. When Noah determined the earth was dry after getting information from the birds, God told him to leave the ark with the creatures so they could multiply upon the earth (Gen. 8:15-17).
We become a fragrant aroma to God when we totally surrender our lives as a burnt offering to Him. We either sacrifice to pursue God’s agenda or become selfish following our agenda! Sin always leads to God’s curse upon us in being despised, insignificant and of little worth to Him (Gen. 8:21). A fragrant aroma is God smelling us with pleasure.
How do we surrender ourselves to God and become that fragrant aroma to Him? We can follow Noah’s pattern by looking at 2 Chron. 7:14-16. The four steps in v. 14 provide the structure to properly steward the release of God’s miracles in our lives and world like Noah:
1. Humble self
2. Pray
3. Seek God’s face
4. Turn from wicked ways
The three results of humbling self, praying, seeking God’s face and turning from wicked ways release God’s miracles individually and corporately in last part of v. 14:
1. God hears us
2. Forgive our sin (individual)
3. Heal our land physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually (corporate)
We also become a fragrant aroma to God in vs. 15-16:
1. God focuses his eyes on us
2. God listens to us attentively
3. God places His name on us forever
4. God moves His heart toward us forever An example is God promise to maintain the days and seasons as long as the earth endures (Gen. 8:22).
A modern day example of the land being healing is Fiji.
Spend at least 15 minutes to humble, pray, seek and turn from your wicked ways. Take out a piece of paper and write down how you feel and what God says to you. Share what you did with one other person.
