(After
my mother went home to be with the Lord my sister and I helped Dad sort through
her belongings. One thing I am blessed
to now have is a number of her notes from reading the Bible and a few of the
teachings she shared with the ladies of her church. When I read this one this week I just had to
share it with you – enjoy!)
“Then God remembered
Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the
ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of
heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters
receded continually from the earth. At
the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested
in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of
Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the
month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
So it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window
of the ark which he had made. Then he
sent out a raven, which kept going to and from until the waters had dried up
from the earth. He also sent out from
himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the
ground. But the dove found no resting
place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the
waters were on the face of the whole earth.
So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to
himself. And he waited yet another seven
days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and
behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the
waters had receded from the earth. So he
waited another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to
him anymore.” –Genesis
8:1-12
Noah
must have been watching the birds for quite a while for when he turned the
raven out he knew the raven wouldn’t be returning. There was plenty of food floating around in
the water, for ravens are scavengers that feed on the dead. The raven was going to the feast of a lifetime
so there was no need for him to return to the ark.
The
next thing Noah did was to turn a dove out.
The dove returned that evening without finding any place to rest, as all
was still covered in water. Noah waited
seven days and he again turned the dove out.
She returned carrying a fresh olive leaf. Noah again waited seven days and set her
out. This time she did not return so
Noah knew that the waters of judgment were gone.
The
Bible teaches that the believer has two natures. An old nature and a new nature: “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). You and I, as believers, have these two
natures currently struggling with each other.
In
this scripture (Genesis 8) the raven represents the old nature. His food is death. As the old nature loves the things of the
world and feasts upon them, it only brings us death and failure. You too have the old nature, however, that is
no excuse; you ought not to be living in the old nature.
The
dove went out into the same judged world, but she didn’t find rest nor
satisfaction so she returned back to the salvation found in the ark. The dove’s struggle represents the believer
in the world. We WILL struggle, but when
God says something is wrong, it is definitely wrong for us. We should trust and believe Him. The believer is told, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life –
is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:15-16).
We
are all living in a judged world today.
We are in the world but not of it.
We are to use it but not abuse it.
We are not to fall in love with it.
We are privileged to partake in winning the lost be getting out the Word
of God. Our Lord told us to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
Let’s
take care of our job down here and spread the word of God!
The
dove recognized what kind of world she was in and she found no rest. She found rest only in the ark of
salvation. Noah’s ark represents Christ
as that resting place. In Him alone do
we have salvation.
Let
me ask you these very personal questions:
What kind of bird are you? Are
you a raven or a dove? If you are a
child of God, you have both natures, but which one are you living in
today? Do you love the things of the
world or do you love the things of God?
-By Pearle
Smith
