Genesis 8:1-22 NKJV
8 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
God remembers Noah in mercy and kindness. He closes the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven. He sends a wind so that the flood waters subside. As the waters subside, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year. Two and a half months later, on the first day of the tenth month, “the tops of the mountains were seen” (5). Noah waits forty days and sends out a raven, but it had no place to land. Then he sent out a dove, who also returned to him. Noah waits seven days, sends out the dove again, and it returns with “a freshly plucked olive leaf” (11). Noah waits another seven days to send out the dove again. This time it does not return. It had found a new home.
On the first day of the first month, Noah sees for himself that the surface was dry (13). But, as one who walked with God, Noah does not leave the ark without a word from God. He continues to wait patiently on the Lord. Nearly two months from the day he saw the surface of the ground was dry—on the twenty-seventh day of the second month—God speaks to Noah and tells him to leave the ark and bring out every all the animals. Noah obeys God’s word, then offers one of each clean animal and bird as a burnt offering to the Lord. This pleases God, who then promises never to curse the ground again for man’s sake, and promises that as long as the earth lasts, mankind can rely on the stability of seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night.
Noah did a lot of waiting. He typified Jesus’ words to the disciples in Luke 21:19, “By your patience possess your souls.” He patiently awaited the Lord’s mercy during the flood. Even after the waters had subsided, he patiently trusts God to tell him when it is safe for him, his family, and the animals to exit the ark. Like Noah, we live our lives by God’s word—holy scripture—and patiently wait upon the Lord to bring us out of every trial, affliction, and cross that He allows to come upon us. When He delivers us, we, like Noah, offer the sacrifice of praise.
Let us pray: Increase our patience, O Lord, that in hardship and cross we wait upon You, trusting that You will remember us in mercy and deliver us according to Your gracious will. Amen.