Genesis 8: Obedient Faith Leads to Expected Hope

In my teenage years, I went through a period where I was chronically ill. Doctors put me through a myriad of tests to try and solve the mystery of why my body was going through so many episodes of sickness and pain. To encourage me to endure the most difficult procedures, my mom promised me a trip to the hospital gift shop afterwards where I could pick something out for myself. It was something to look forward to on the other side of misery and unknowns. And though I didn’t always mention it beforehand, I hoped she would remember each time another test was scheduled. She did and I felt loved (thank you, Momma).

Though this is an example of a small promise, you’ve probably had moments where someone promised you something much greater. Did that person fulfill his/her promise to you? How did that make you feel? Fulfilled promises build trust in a relationship because it means the person is going to be true to her word, so you can depend on her to follow through in both word and action.

In reading through Genesis 7 again, it does not explicitly say anywhere that God would release everyone from the ark after the flood. All God had told Noah personally was that a flood was coming to destroy everything and that He would create a covenant with him. He would enter the ark with his wife, sons, and their wives, and a remnant of animals. Noah entered the ark by faith in the Lord’s deliverance even though he had no clue what the future would look like! Wouldn’t that be terrifying?

Has God ever instructed you to do something you thought was unimaginable? Maybe He called you to move to another country you had never been to before. Has He told you to leave a job with great pay for something more meaningful but that left you financially tighter? Have you received a grim diagnosis with no security of life? Each of us has had something where we’ve walked into the unfamiliar. What did you do? Noah trusted in the promise God made to mankind in Genesis 3:15 that had yet to be fulfilled:

“I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

If God had destroyed the whole earth and everything in it, He would have failed to deliver the promise of the Savior. Though Noah didn’t know the details of what the earth would be like after the flood, he could trust that God would deliver him from the ark, and land would be restored once again; it had to be. Noah knew he and his family were still living with sinful hearts. I’m sure the animals also represented that at times. It would be impossible for everything to be perfect in the ark for a whole year. Think of how many of us went a little “squirrely” being stuck at home during Covid. Now add a torrent of water loudly slapping the side of the ark, and all the animals making their sounds, and your family quarreling a time or two from too much time together. Even this small remnant was still in need of a Savior to crush the enemy! God needed to take action.

“God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark.” Genesis 8:1 God was with Noah the whole time. If He had left him, there’s no way the ark wouldn’t have been capsized or been crushed by the pressure of water. God sustained that little boat amidst the earth-shattering flood. What God “remembered” was the same promise Noah would have clung to as he awaited the Savior; the promise to crush the enemy’s head and set people free from the curse of sin and death! In the meantime, God and Holy Spirit took action to rescue Noah.

“God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside. The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped. The water steadily receded from the earth, and by the end of 150 days the water had decreased significantly.” Genesis 8:1-3

God took action and brought things back to almost the very beginning of creation when, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2

Did you know that in Genesis 8:1 when it said, “God caused a wind to pass over the earth;” that “wind” was referring to the Hebrew word, “Ruach,” which means breath or spirit? Creator God had His same Spirit who once hovered over the surface of the watery depths do it once again. He “passed over the earth and the water began to subside.” (Genesis 8:1) (This makes me think of the parting of the Red Sea during Moses’ time, too!) This is the power of God at work in creation; everything obeys His command. Could He have instantly evaporated the water and had Noah walk out of the ark after the first 40 days? Absolutely!  But there was so much growth going on in that ship that He didn’t want to waste the opportunity to continue to stretch Noah’s faith, and that of his family. So, for a whole year, his family stayed afloat.

Month after month the waters continued to slowly recede. Exactly five months afloat, the ark rested on the top of the mountains of Ararat, but the mountaintops would not become visible for another three months after that. When would you start questioning how long this trial would take? The first week? Month? Three months?

Noah was guaranteed that that waters would surge for 40 days and 40 nights. The first trial transition period where Noah’s faith was refined and a new normal began on the ark. Considering the climax of the flood had the ark at at least 20 feet above the tallest mountaintop, I think he safely assumed it would take a while longer than 40 days for all the water to dry. His family would have settled into a daily rhythm of caring for themselves and the animals. Life in their new normal would soon get comfortable, as much as it could be.

Then, after the mountaintops were visible, Noah endured the next trial transition of 40 days when he began sending birds out to look for vitality of life again on earth. With the tops of the mountains in view, we could guess that Noah was growing antsy to see what the new earth would look like, and once again have the freedom to step on dry ground. The hope of life outside of that wooden ark was so close. It would have been hard to remain patient and wait on the Lord.

In the trials of hardship you’ve endured, when was that antsy moment for you when you could see things start to turn around for the better; Where it looked hopeful that the grieving would end and light would drive back the darkness? How did you handle that time? Did you get excited? Were you nervous? Were you fearful of new changes and expectations? For Noah, there was no turning back. He knew his time in the ark would soon come to an end and he was ready for it.

“After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove, but it did not return to him again. In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying.” (Genesis 8:12-13) Can you imagine how exciting that would be? Wouldn’t you want to bust that door open and rush out to feel grass between your toes, again? Sunlight on your face? Wind in your hair? What joy Noah and his family must have felt at the signs of life returning to the earth?! Happy New Year Noah! While excitement lingered, and the dove was off the ark already building herself a nest in the olive tree, Noah continued to wait on the Lord’s direction to leave. If he had opened the door at the first sign on the ground drying, he would have sank in the mud, and all the animals with him. The vegetation wouldn’t have rooted enough to continue to grow in order to sustain the animals coming off the ark. God knew this, so he had everyone wait a little while longer.

By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.

Then God spoke to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the earth—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.’ (Genesis 8:14-17) Finally, the victorious day arrived! Can you hear something similar to Braveheart’s William Wallace yelling “Freedom!!!” with this scene? God opened the massive door and “Noah, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, came out. All the animals, all the creatures that crawl, and all the flying creatures—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark by their families.” (Genesis 8:18-19)

Even in the most exhilarating moment of their lives, God maintained order. Everyone – man, animal, birds, and creepy things all “came out of the ark by their families.” (vs. 19) No one was lost. No one got trampled. They entered in their groups and they exited the same so that they could “spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” (vs. 17)

It was God who saved them from death, and it was God who delivered them back to dry land. Nothing was ever outside of His control or care. And the same is true for your life, too. He’s always with you. He may lead you into a wilderness of unknowns; to a time of deepening your trust and dependency on Him; a time of reminding you of His love and care; To a time of showing you that nothing on this earth will ever fully satisfy you; only God can do that. And you can trust that when He does, He will bring you through it with an even greater faith than you could imagine. Holy Spirit will strengthen you to endure and provide peace in the storm.

Thankfully, the promise God had given mankind in Genesis 3:15; the promise Noah would have clung to as he entered the ark has been fulfilled through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord! And from this, all who follow Him have been added to His family and are called His children!

“See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:1-4

Christ has come and will come again to take His family home. The finality of the earth will come and like the time of the flood, though not by water, the earth will be destroyed, and sin and death will be no more! So, like Noah, we need to continue to walk obediently with the Lord and strive to live in life and godliness, and not the ways of this world. Look with expected hope at all that is to come in the promise of our good and gracious God!

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