YOUR OLIVE LEAF (EVIDENCE) IS COMING

In our world, “Seeing is believing;” people believe what they see, but faith believes in what is unseen. Sometimes we are stocked at a place for long and we begin to see doubts; wondering what else to do! At times, we pray and pray for a specific thing to go away or to happen and we do not see result or that thing failed to happen eventually. We wonder did God not hear our prayers! Why did it not happen? What’s our evidence for believing in God? Sometimes when we face uphill task or pass through difficulties, we begin to wonder why me, why now? Does God not understand or know what I am going through? After all I pay my tithe, worship and praise Him; try to live in holiness. Again I am His child and He loves me unconditionally; promise to supply all my needs and preserve my life.

Noah was in the ark and did not know what was happening around him. He pondered, has the rain stopped and the water receded completely and dried off? Could you imagine what being in Noah’s situation mean? Even though he was lacking nothing in the boat because all he needed the Lord God had provided but in human nature he was restricted; curious of when he will go out and begin his normal life once again. The rain was on the surface of the earth for forty days and forty nights [Genesis 7:12]. Sometimes when we face certain situations in life, we get curious and worried even after praying to God and the word of God assures us that God would answer yet we still are not rested because the situation still remains.

This feeling was not peculiar to Noah alone; King David in Psalms responded to similar situation with: I will lift my eyes unto the hill, from whence my help comes, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth……..He that keeps me [you, Israel] shall neither slumber nor sleep……The Lord is my keeper:…..shall preserve me from evil and shall preserve my soul…..my going out and coming in form time forth and even for evermore”[Psalms 121]. Job reassured himself and answered, “Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out: He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: He will not afflict. Men do therefore fear Him: He respects not any that are wise in heart.” [Job 37:23-24]. As a matter of fact every one that has had deep encounter with God just obeyed without knowing outcome. In their belief, they acted trusting God would do whatever He said and preserved them; waited until God showed up in His time and way.

And God remembered Noah and every living thing in the Ark. God then caused a wind to blow [similar to southeast wind in Exodus 14:21 and Ezekiel 36] and the water started going down [Genesis 8:1ff]. I am prompted to declare to you the reader of this text that God has remembered you this season. It was not that God forgot about Noah, but his season of liberation and fulfillment had come. Even though God had remembered Noah but it was not until the tenth month, on the first day that he saw the top of the mountains. Yet forty days after, he opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven. The raven returned because it did not see anywhere to pitch after moving to and fro the earth. Still seeking answers, he sent out a dove to see whether the water was abated from the surface of the ground. Again like the raven, the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so it quickly made its way back to the ark. Ten days after, Noah again sent the dove out of the ark. This time, the dove returned in the evening with an olive leaf in its mouth and Noah knew that the waters had abated from the ground. Could we puzzle a bit on why Noah sent out a dove a couple of times? Why Noah did not send a lion, an elephant or an eagle? Why did he boycott the giant and chose the small?

The dove came back with something – fresh olive leaf and Noah knew that the waters had abated off the earth. It does not matter how he came back or when he came back; what matters is that the dove came back with something salient and tangible. It came back with a testimony and evidence that the barrier has been removed, the problem is over, the chains have been broken and the prison gate opened. The destiny of Noah’s family and all the living things in the ark was tight to the dove. Many of those enjoying economic refugees in foreign land are on a mission; hoping they shall one day be able to return home with something uncommon. To many of them, the destinies of their families are tight to them. I pray that one day, in no distance time, we shall return home with something enviable. To those highly qualified yet doing mean job for survival, God shall cause the Spirit of compensation to fall upon them and their children shall receive uncommon favors; bring home laurels and education that will fulfill and restore the losses, delays, failures, wastages and disappointments  they had suffered.

God knows how and when to withhold from us any visible sign of encouragement and evidence of our faith; when to grant such signs. When He withholds such signs it is to enable us depend on His word/promises and walk in faith. We need to exercise our faith; whether we see evidence or not, whether we know the outcome or not; God is on the throne doing wonders all the time.  Jesus Christ sometimes delayed His help that He may try our faith and deepen our prayers. The boat may be covered by waves and tossed up and down by strong winds and He sleeps on but He will wake up before it sinks. He never over sleeps and there is no late or too late with Him. “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints……O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee……..Thou rulest the raging of the sea; when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them…….thou has scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm” [Psalms 89:7-10]. Jeremiah cried, “Thou has covered thyself with a cloud that our prayers should not pass through” [Lamentations 3:44]. There are times when we have similar experiences in human nature. “I have sought him but I could not find him; I called him but he gave me no answer” [Songs of Solomon 5:6c].

When God asked Abraham to leave his own country and move to an unknown place, but a Promise Land, he obeyed. When God tested him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, Abraham did not understand what God was after. But He trusted God to the point of death. And God swore by His name and pronounced blessings on him [Genesis 22:16-18]. During famine, God asked Isaac to till and cultivate the land that he shall yield a hundred percent. Isaac obeyed God and had a hundred percent yield [Genesis 26]. When Apostle Peter and John met with a man in a beautiful gate, there was no evidence of any kind but Peter upheld the name of Jesus. The early apostles had nothing: no money, no credentials/certification, no fame, titles or degrees but solely trusted in the name above all names – the name of Jesus Christ. We do not know the powers and authority we have in the name of Jesus until we surrender and fully depend upon that name. It does not matter where we are and what time of the day, all we need is to believe God and live in obedience. When we call on God in our closet, we have no evidence. Until you believe in the word and obey it, you never find evidence.

As we sleep and hope to wake up the next day; cross over into new season, new era, we have no pre-evidence but only to trust God and obey Him; depend on His glory and grace to keep and sustain us in each passing day and season. History reveals that most of our faith founding fathers had no evidence but simply obedience to God’s directions. They trusted God that in the midst of their trials and God’s silences, He was their leader, judge, shield and enabler. He neither failed nor lied. He will keep His promises, even if it delays, wait upon Him and learn to trust on His word. God registers and answers every prayer; sometimes He holds it for it to mature [right time], sometimes what you asked for may not be good enough or endure in the long run or it could be that God had already availed you an answer: I mean something that will strengthen your knowledge of Him. He has a set time and purpose for everything. He knows the end from the beginning and sees the larger picture than we can see.

Let me announce to you that your olive leaf is coming. Believe Him if the storm and cloud gather darkly around; even if the heaven seems brass without a sound, God who turned chaos into cosmos is the same God we trust today. There are delays no man can explain; there are calamities and tragedies that are inexplicable. Who can explain why it took Abraham 25 years to get Isaac, the child of Promise? Who can explain why God delayed the births of Samuel, John the baptist and why Joseph was born last? At long last when they trusted God and obeyed Him, He brought forth the evidences. God will do something in your life that will be evidence of His power and a confirmation of His faithfulness to your generation in Jesus name. Those who are readiest to trust God without other evidence than His word always receive the greatest number of visible evidences of His love. When we do not have any visible evidence of the love of God, then rely on His word that cannot fail or lie.

This season God has remembered you. Your mourning shall turn into dancing; your struggles shall become pleasant and darkness shall turn into daylight. Those who laughed at you shall laugh with you. Your olive leaf sprang from the tree which means that the roots [foundation] did not die in the flood. It has sprung up new green leaves. This is evidence of life. “They shall not build and another inhabits; they shall not plant and another eats: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” [Isaiah 65:22]. It shall bear new fruits, new womb, new life and new heritage. You will plant and reap a hundredfold even in the midst of famine. Your hindrances have been taken away. The king of Persia may delay it for 21 days but there is a breakthrough coming; a command of release from the throne of grace that the devil is unaware on its way. Your season of calamity is over and your season of favor is here; the enemy can do nothing about it. God has directed your shame and reproach to be taken away; so shall it be. She that was called barren shall become a mother of children. Unknown to you, your nagging spouse shall become your best friend; joy and peace shall overtake your relationship. The dove shall bring forth your green olive leaf and it shall evidence God’s fruitfulness. Your enemies shall see the evidences of God’s hand on you and shall speak nothing against the Lord’s chosen.

When God remembers you as He did to Elizabeth and Zachariah, He recreates and refurbishes you and your old and aged body becomes young and sexy again; He found favor with Joseph that even the prison staff saw God’s hand on him. If nobody believes you, one with God is majority. When God is for you who shall be against you [Romans 8:31b]. All things are now working for your favor. You may have no other evidence of your relationship with God except your faith and belief in His word. Do not forget that God had given us true evidence of His love: God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were still sinners [unlovable and unacceptable] Christ died for us [Romans 5:8]. The proof of God’s love is a one-time event, the cross – an answer to our deepest need. We need love that can take away sin and make life with God possible. This amazing grace is tied to the uncommon love – sacrificial yet unconditional love of God. It’s because no one else can take away our sins that God’s son became the ultimate proof of salvation and sacrificial love – this is the best proof of all.