May 1, 2025
Exiting the Ark
It is interesting, is it not, that Noah did not leave the ark as soon as the dove stayed away. I am sure that if it were any of us, we would have tried to escape ASAP! Noah, however, waited for God to tell him to leave the ark, and he did not assume that he could go based on his research alone.
Question:
Sometimes, instead of saying "go," God says, "wait." Where is God inviting you to wait instead of forge ahead?
Prayer Focus:
Waiting can be painful and cause us to feel stir-crazy. Take a moment to offer these periods of waiting to God.
Go Deeper:
When God told Noah to come out of the ark, Noah's first decision was to offer worship to God. Can you imagine how grateful he must have felt? They had all survived the destruction of the world! Can you imagine? On top of that, God was pleased with them and the offering of worship they gave Him.
At this moment, God gave Noah a promise of blessing for him and his descendants, and God promised never again to kill every living thing.
It is interesting, is it not, that Noah did not leave the ark as soon as the dove stayed away. I am sure that if it were any of us, we would have tried to escape ASAP! Noah, however, waited for God to tell him to leave the ark, and he did not assume that he could go based on his research alone.
Question:
Sometimes, instead of saying "go," God says, "wait." Where is God inviting you to wait instead of forge ahead?
Prayer Focus:
Waiting can be painful and cause us to feel stir-crazy. Take a moment to offer these periods of waiting to God.
Go Deeper:
When God told Noah to come out of the ark, Noah's first decision was to offer worship to God. Can you imagine how grateful he must have felt? They had all survived the destruction of the world! Can you imagine? On top of that, God was pleased with them and the offering of worship they gave Him.
At this moment, God gave Noah a promise of blessing for him and his descendants, and God promised never again to kill every living thing.
Genesis 8:13-22 New Living Translation
By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”