Let Us Go On – Noah

“Then God said to Noah,
“Go out from the ark…”
Genesis 8:15-16

The building of the ark was God’s idea. It was a divine means of God’s deliverance for Noah and his family. No doubt Noah experienced countless miracles of God’s provision during his season in the ark.

The raging seas and the devastating flood had cleansed the world of wickedness, its violence and chaos had come and gone. The ark had become Noah’s world, safe and familiar. Though the ark now rested on dry ground, and the dove had brought back “a freshly plucked olive leaf” (Genesis 8:11), Noah remained in that to which he had become accustomed.

“Then he waited another seven days
and sent forth the dove,
and she did not return to him anymore.”
Genesis 8:12 (ESV)

It is the nature of man to settle for something that was at one time God’s provision and His Will. The dove is often a representation of the Holy Spirit; the “freshly plucked olive leaf” indicated to Noah that there were fresh ministrations for him outside of the ark. Yet Noah waited another seven days! See related post – “For the Bed is Shorter.”

Noah sent the dove out once again, but “she did not return to him anymore”. Still, Noah waited approximately 57 more days (*see note below). He stayed in a place the dove had left, hesitant to step into the vast new wonder of God’s world.

Finally, God speaks:

“Go out from the ark…”

The Call of God is to go out and, even more important, to “go on” into the deeper things of God. Christ exhorted the disciples to “launch themselves into the deep” (Luke 5:4) and drop their nets. May we not linger in the shallows of our own experience.

Let us consider this short life we have here as the opportunity to “launch” ourselves into the depths of His Will; to discover new resources and experience the life of Him flowing through us into the world around us.

Human nature is to cling to things known, things familiar, while God is ever seeking to move us from where we are to where He is.

“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”
John 12:26 (ESV)

Many years ago, while in prayer, I heard Him say, “I have many children but few disciples”. The impact of that has never left me, though I am often reminded of my own desperate need for grace to make this truth a growing reality in my own experience. Nevertheless, His Call goes out to every heart that would respond.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 (ESV)

The heart of God is ever beholding and ever calling to His creation. A faithless heart, a heart set on its own ways, one that clings to the shallows of life, will never encounter the strength of God impelling them into the deep to drop their nets and become “fishers of men”.

“And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after Me,
and I will make you to become fishers of men.”
Mark 1:17

If we do not follow Him, we will never discover the enabling Grace of God to become “fishers of men.”

“Therefore, let us go on…”
Hebrews 6:1

Let Us Go On Series:

Let Us Go On – Mary (LINK)

Let Us Go On – Corinthians (LINK)

(*Note: 57 days)

“And it happened in the six hundred and first year, at the beginning, on the first of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked. And, behold! The face of the earth was dried. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.”
Genesis 8:13-14 (ESV)

365 Days of Noah’s Experience

Albert Barnes, in his commentary, makes a significant observation concerning the account of Noah.
Gen 8:13-14

“Noah delays apparently another month, and, on the first day of the new year, ventures to remove the covering of the ark and look around. The date of the complete drying of the land is then given. The interval from the entrance to the exit consists of the following periods:”

Rain continued ———————————————- 40 days
Waters prevailed ——————————————–150 days
Waters subside ———————————————–99 days
Noah delays —————————————————40 days
Sending of the raven and the dove ———————-20 days
Another month ————————————————29 days
Interval until the 27th of the 2nd month —————-57 days
Sum-total of days —————————————-365 days

Brian Troxel