January 16, 2024 | Be God's Light
Back on Dry Land
Scripture: Genesis 8(NIV)
1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
6 After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
13 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.
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.”
Devotional
Noah’s ark floated on floodwaters for 150 days. But it took another couple hundred days before the land dried up and the family could leave the ark. Those days of waiting must have been challenging. When they were sailing along, there was no place to go. But when the land began to become visible, there had to be a great temptation to get out of there. But neither humans nor animals would survive until the renewing earth could sustain them.
Waiting is hard. Proverbs 19:11 tells us, “A person’s wisdom yields patience.” It’s true. God’s will is most often perfected on a slow cooker, not in a microwave. Patience is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Ecclesiastes 7:8 sums it up: “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”
Why are we so often in such a hurry? Do you sometimes value fast over effective? How is God challenging you to slow down and wait on Him?
For Noah and his family, the wait was worth it. After he lowered the door, out came the giraffes, honey bees, and bald eagles. I’m guessing the turtles and sloths were last. What a sight to behold!
Once on dry ground, the first thing Noah did was to build an altar and worship God. This pleased the Lord beyond our understanding. Humans were still born with Adam’s sin in their hearts. But God promised never again to destroy the earth because of it.
Take time right now to worship God, praising Him for all the blessings you have in your life. Know that your prayers rise to Him as a pleasing aroma to His throne in heaven!
Poem
Attention, Please!
I need your attention.
Can you see me, O God?
Do you see all my chaos?
I'm stuck in the bog of
Sorrow and crazies
Above and below
Around and around
And around me they go.
I need your attention—
Should I get on my knees
Am I properly saying
What's bothering me?
Should my prayers be more fervent?
Is my heart true enough?
Did you notice my offering?
Should I give up more stuff?
I need your attention
God, listen to me!
Hello, are you out there?
Do you care? Do you see?
I know, I'll lie prostrate
I'll get on my face
I'll lie here in waiting
My pride I'll abase.
I need your attention
(I'm not looking, Lord--
Okay,... I am peeking
What more can I do?)
Should I whistle my shrillest?
Should I climb up a tree?
God, stop all your silence
Stop hiding from me!
I need your attention!
I'm waving my arms
Yoo-Hoo! do you see me!
Should I sound an alarm?
Remember your promise
You said you would show
I'm here on your stage
Are you out there, or no?
