Then God remembered Noah... (8:1)
Noah's in the ark and all he can think about is how much longer? How much longer? How much longer? Why else would he be sending out ravens and doves all over the place every 7 days for as long as it took? He sent out the raven first- it being a bird that can survive on a broad range of food types, and then the dove, a much pickier eater. The raven kept coming back and forth, to and fro until the waters had dried up. Did Noah cry the first time the first time the dove returned? Did Noah monitor what the raven ate when she flew back to him? Did the raven increasingly eat less and less at home and the less she ate the more hopeful Noah became? When the dove failed to return, Noah knew the time was soon. Why didn't he get out then?
I love that he didn't get out. The Lord told him when to go in, and the Lord told him when to get out, and Noah wasn't going to move until he heard the word.
Genesis 7:1 “Come into the ark...”
Genesis 8:16 “Go out of the ark...”
So what were the birds for? Not much. Well what else was Noah going to do? Maybe he needed a little bit of hope. A little bit of of time to prepare. A little bit of news to go back and talk to his wife about. But really, it didn't matter whether he sent out those birds or not, God was still going to call Noah out of the ark when He decided to call him out... which wasn't until the earth was completely dry. The last torturous 2 months when the ground looked dry, but before the Lord had spoken...
The first thing Noah does after all that waiting and waiting and waiting? He worships God. He gives to God. He remembers God.
What a patient, obedient man. What a lover of the Lord. What a craftsman, what a hard worker, what a good husband/father/leader of his family. This is the man God chose to begin life again. Good choice.
Noah just jumped up in my rankings.
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