The dove is a peaceful bird. It is a gentle bird that scratches the ground looking for seed for its food. Unlike a raven, which would have fed on the dead carcasses of animals killed by the flood, the dove needed to find dry ground near seed bearing plants in order to eat. It also needed some material with which to begin building a new life outside of the ark. Noah chose wisely. The dove-test was perfect. Noah would test the waters, so to speak, with these birds to find God’s will. When the dove came back with an olive branch in its beak, Noah knew that the time to leave the ark had come. Now he only needed God’s confirmation of what he probably already knew. He tested one more time, sending the dove out into the new wilderness. This time the dove did not return. Now Noah knew for sure. God told Noah to come out from the ark along with all of the creatures inside. So Noah becomes Adam part 2 and human kind begins to build life on earth once more.
We often speak and think about being in the “center” of God’s will for our lives. We often sit in dissatisfaction waiting for an answer to appear out of the great ether. We stumble, heartbroken and worried, wondering why God doesn’t show us a clear answer to the question, “What am I here for and what should I be doing.” That question is important to be sure, but it is not the fundamental question we should be asking. Rather, we should be asking ourselves, “Since I am here for God, what should I be becoming?” God is not here to serve us; we are here to serve God. We often become so occupied with thoughts about our plight and concerned with ourselves that we forget that we are here to focus on God and His glory. We stumble in the darkness bumping into the beams of our myopic little arks wondering why God doesn’t turn on the light. All the time the light has been hanging in the middle of the room beaming it’s blinding brightness to the farthest reaches of existence while we cover our eyes with dark glasses made from solid sheets of self-centeredness.
If we would, even for a moment, stop and listen to God we might get the answer we desperately seek. For some reason we’d rather crawl around in ignorance beneath a shelf full of knowledge rather than stand up and grab a volume of the exhaustive encyclopedia of wisdom and knowledge God. Then, when we feel like we aren’t getting all of the blessings promised to us through word of mouth stories and half-forgotten sermons, we wring our hands in worry that God won’t bless us. We even suggest the idea that we won’t believe these “promises” until God proves them to us! Such thoughts are misguided, self-centered misapplication of the reality of God. Yet God is faithful to stand and wait for our spirit to stop listening to the world and begin listening to him.
Noah spent time with God from the time before the flood. God called his walk righteous. A righteous walk comes from the application of three things. First Noah must have spent a great deal of time in conversation with God. Every day and probably all through the day Noah and God would have talked. This concept is easy to understand. Each of us has the capability to hold conversations with many people all through the day. We talk while we are at work, at school, during leisure time, during meals and everything else we do. Why would talking to God be any different?
Second, Noah listened to God. We listen most to other people. Each day we are given hundreds, maybe even thousands of thoughts and ideas from others. We use them as we see fit. Some of these thoughts are virtually worthless in regard to making weighty decisions about life. But some are significant and in using them, we become better, more capable people. Listening to God is not different in function. His answers are always beneficial. Our problem is that we have rarely been taught how to listen. We call our conversations with God prayer. But our prayers mostly consist of a want-list. We typically explain to God our situation and how it affects us. Then we ask him to fix it. We ask him to fix it our way. We ask him to fix it in our time. The possibility that we might be wrong in our method or that God might have an opinion about how and when to “fix it” doesn’t often enter into the answer-equation. We often complain about unanswered prayer when we don’t see results to our petition before the last echo of “amen” can no longer be heard in the room. We would do much better in our quest, if we’d stop chattering for a few minutes each day and instead, sat quietly and listened.
Third, Noah used the wisdom he was given and got busy doing something. Noah did not wait for a sign; he tested the conditions of the situation with what he knew. Once the ark landed Noah began a testing process. That testing process took some time. He sent out a raven. Noah knew that the raven had a good chance of survival in this new, hostile world. Ravens eat dead things. There would be plenty of dead things. Plus the raven had a definite, proven mode of transportation. A raven could come and go, seeking out life in the new world in many directions. It would not easily tire. It could survive in the hostile world outside or return to the safety of the ark if necessary. I wouldn’t have done any good at all to send out a rhinoceros or rabbit. A large, scavenging bird was a perfect choice.
Once the raven test gave a positive result, Noah sought out additional information by refining the first test. This time he sent out a dove. The dove test was used three times. Each time the answer the test results gave Noah was slightly different and carried a different meaning. The first dove test gave Noah the answer, “not yet.” Noah knew conditions outside the ark were close to being ready from the results of the raven test. But the refined, dove test did not confirm his raven test conclusion. The test was performed again. This time the results were slightly different, but the conclusion was not yet confirmed. The third test gave Noah the confirmation. When the dove did not return, Noah knew that life outside the ark was possible for he and his wife and his sons and his son’s wives.
Noah used the wisdom gained from continual conversations with God. Noah used answered heard from listening to God. Noah tested conditions looking for confirmation from God. Noah lived his life in the center of God’s will. His righteous lifestyle set him apart from everyone else and garnered God’s favor. His struggle was not easy and ours won’t be easy either. He lived in horrible conditions during his salvation from the flood. We may not have a cushy ride either. His family endured tremendous hardship while Noah lived God’s plan for his life. So might ours.
The story of Noah’s ark is not “warm and fuzzy.” Sunday school Noah and the bathtub ark do our children and us a huge disservice. They take away the horror of Noah and his family’s salvation from the deluge. Noah must have had incredible heartache and nights of tossing and turning. He must have questioned “God’s will” in his life many times during the ordeal. Yet, his daily continual connection with God gave him hope. His learned habit of listening gave him safety. His dedication gave him power over the forces of the world around him.
Our choices aren’t much different. We too can tap into the vast knowledge, wisdom and hope of God. Our choice to converse with God on a continual basis is given to use every day. Our choice to listen to God is ever present. Our choice to get up and test the conditions is at our disposal any time we want to stand up and make it happen. God is still faithful and just. He is still all knowing and wise. He is still capable of miracles. He still desires us to turn to him. He is a God of power and strength. He is a powerful God, made of love. That love gives us the choice to turn to him or to turn away. We make the choice of what we will be. His will for our lives is there for the asking. What we become is up to us.
