Questions for Littles: Whom did God remember in v1? How did God make the waters start receding? What did God now keep it from doing (v2)? What happened 5 months, to the day, after Noah’s family got onto the ark (v4)? How long did it take for the tops of the mountains to be seen again (v5)? What month and day is it in v6-7, when he sends the raven out? What does he send out in v8? What happens with it (v9)? What happens the second time he sends the dove (v10-11)? And the third (v12)? How long has it been in v13? What does Noah see, 10½ months after the rain started, 9 months after the rain stopped, 5½ months after the ark came to rest (end of v13)? How many more weeks pass until v14? What was Noah waiting for (v15)? Who had survived the flood (v16-19)?In this week’s Old Testament reading, we spend a lot of time on a boat.
The text says that God remembered Noah, 40 days in, but that might have seemed like news to Noah. From when the rain stops to the time when the ark comes to rest, it’s almost four months. Four months with all those animals, doing all those chores, the entire world wiped away beneath them, all of the uncertainty that would face them when they got off the boat.
If they got off the boat.
From the time that the boat came to rest, to the time that he saw the ground dry, it was even longer than it had been from the time the rain started to the time it came to rest. And even then it would be another eight weeks—almost two full months—before he could get off the boat.
Let that sink in. After almost a year on the ark, Noah saw the ground dry, and he didn’t get off the boat. He trusted in the Lord enough, and was humbled enough before the power and holiness of God, to wait until God told him to get off the boat.
This was a great part of the Lord’s salvation. Yes, God preserved the lives of Noah, his wife, his sons, his sons’ wives, and all of the kinds of creatures on the planet! But, He also continued sustaining the faith of Noah, grew him in patience and trust, through a trial the like of which we can hardly imagine.
Dear believer, consider what the Lord might bring you through to save you and grow you!
What is the most difficult trial you have ever endured? What was/is God doing through it?Suggested songs: ARP46 “God Is Our Refuge” or HB112 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”
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