What If?

I'm looking out the window at the rain this afternoon and wondering what Noah must have thought the first time he experienced this.  He had likely never seen rain before, and God had told him that this rain would flood the entire earth.  (I know that some of my more liberal friends don't believe that the entire earth was flooded, but the Bible says it was and you and I weren't there to prove otherwise, so we'll look at it as truth.) 

Consider the place from which Noah saw the rain.  He was in a boat.  He had never built a boat before, but there he was.  He didn't know if it would float, and this particular boat had no rudder to steer (check out the instructions God gave, there's not rudder or helm).  Of course, that was probably better for everyone since Noah was not a sailor and his sons were not navigators. 

Imagine the submission to God's command that it took for Noah to be in this position.  We talk about holiness as a consecration to God and His love and commands, and this is a clear example of such a commitment.  When God calls us today we always have a list of "what ifs" a mile long.  Whether it is finances, or resources, or support from others we always want to know "what if?"  Do we really think that the Old Testament prophets were without these same questions?  They probably asked every question that the human mind could imagine when God called them to do the improbable, and in most cases the seemingly impossible. 

Maybe if we are to see God's power at work among us we need to forget about the "what ifs" and just allow God to work.  We serve the same God who parted the seas, kept Jonah in a fish, defeated the prophets of Baal, and made the sun stand still.  Why do we feel this need to incessantly ask "what if?"  Do we really think that God is incapable of doing what He said He would do?  If scripture teaches anything, it teaches that God has given His word, and He will keep that word.  He has promised to provide, comfort, free from sin, among many other things.  It is time that we quit asking "what if" and simply trust in the one to whom we belong.