Stay or Go

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

STAY OR GO

Gen 8:6-12

6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. 10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

NIV

It is a bit strange the way it is recorded, but this raven did not stay flying for some twenty-one days until the waters had completely receded, from the Hebrew text, we find the raven, a carnivorous bird, which is now the new plan of God that we will see when everything and everyone came out of the ark, most likely found food from what was flooding in the waters, and then returned to perch upon the outside of the ark. This view is supported by the flying back and forth in the Hebrew, to and fro. However, we still know all that happened in those days was according to the plan or the will of God. Noah did send forth a dove that was not of the same new nature of the raven, and it needed a branch to rest on or eat from some vegetation as we see it found nothing on the first flight, but seven days later it found an olive leaf. The water had receded enough for olive trees to begin to have new growth. Still, Noah waited. He had not yet heard from God to leave the ark. He will as we will get to in the following verses, but the point we must consider is that although Noah had enough evidence to think the water had receded enough that it was safe to leave the ark, he did not because he has not heard from God that it was time to leave. This truth still should apply to our lives if we are truly followers of Jesus. We do not get to decide when we should stay or go as that is totally up to the will of God for our lives. To stay or go can apply to various aspects of our lives. First, this would mean where we live. This might infer just selling our current home and moving across town, just to live in either a newer, bigger, or smaller house or a new different neighborhood. It could apply to moving completely from one state to another or even another country. It could apply to changing churches or changing a ministry. However, we believe any staying or moving must first result from hearing from God. We know he speaks to us through the Spirit and even at times in an audible voice, or at least a voice inside our ears. However, the main point is that we must want to hear from God and when we do, obey his instructions. If we are just living life according to our plans and desires and just calling ourselves Christians because we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, or because we go to church on Sunday, sometimes, unless we have something better to do, then we might want to reevaluate our life’s focus. Noah stayed until he heard God tell him to go. This should be the way we live, listening for God to tell us to stay or go.