Don’t Be in a Hurry to Jump Out

Oftentimes when we think about Noah, we only think about a man who was faithful to God and stood while others were wining and dining (and of course dying in their sin). There’s however something about Noah’s patience that is hardly discussed. 

First, imagine yourself in the same enclosed space with pigs, dogs, cow goats and all the animals, their toilet is on the same premises. As if that is not enough, the dog was probably backing all night because a bat flew blindly at it causing Noah not to enjoy a good night sleep, so he converts it into a vigil hoping to get some rest in the morning when the dog is tired; just towards the morning when the dog stops backing the cock began to crow and Noah will have to convert this too into morning devotion with the hope of a nap towards afternoon but then it’s the perfect time for the Lion to roar and remind all these creatures that their king is still here. 

How about Noah’s family? How did they manage? It’s interesting that this wasn’t just for one day, one week or one month. Genesis 8:3-4 tells us that “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.” What? 150 days with these creatures? If I were Noah, I’ll jump out of the ark with the next available opportunity but I guess that’s why I’m not Noah. 

Genesis 8:6 tells us that Noah waited another forty days, not to step out but to send out a raven to fly around and confirm if the ground is totally dry. The raven wasn’t as patient as Noah, it left and never returned. Noah could have taken it as a signal to jump out but Genesis 8:6 tells us that he instead sent a dove to repeat the same mission, after many days of flying around the dove returned but Noah waited another seven days and then he sent the dove again. 

At this point, I’m really curious why the wait? I’m not sure Noah was waiting for a dry ground anymore, he is surely waiting for something else. Here’s why I think so. “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” Genesis 8:13. Now if Noah was actually waiting for a dry ground here it is, but No he wasn’t. 

From the first day of the first month, Noah waited till the twenty-seventh day of the second month. Why? Genesis 8:15-16 tells us “Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives” Now we know what Noah has been waiting for, it wasn’t the dry ground, it was the voice of God. Amazing!

Can God find a man like Noah from among our ranks today? Men who are not watching out for the dry ground but seeking only the voice of the Lord; they move only at the impulse of the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t matter what the public opinion says. They will wait and wait and will never settle for alternatives, only God will satisfy them, nothing more nothing less. And even when they’re under pressure like Noah stuck with the animals they are not moved, for God is their exceeding great reward. Are you a man like that?