{Read Part I HERE.}
The dove is let loose from the ark again. Maybe this time the land is ready to sustain life. Later that day, Noah watches the horizon as a tiny speck grows closer and closer. The dove returns again. Noah knows it’s still not time to move forward.
“…and he stayed yet other seven days…”
It’s interesting to note the change of word in the Hebrew.
Stay (Heb. yachal)
to wait, hope, expect, trust
The first time Noah stayed it was anything but serene. While he waited, something was happening. God was giving time for the earth to sustain life. To come off the ark prematurely would have meant frustration and possibly a hazard to their lives.
The dove comes back this time with a sprig of life – “an olive leaf pluckt off.”
This was a sign – keep on keeping on! God hasn’t forgotten you. He’s just getting things lined up!
I don’t know how long you will be on your ark. I can’t tell you God is going to get you off in a few days. It would be foolish for me to say so, and it would be foolish for you to believe me if I did.
What I am saying to you – to me – is rooted in the Word of God.
You are not forgotten.
Your situation is not meant to destroy you or your faith.
God knows where you are and how much you can take.
He is working on your behalf.
Along with Noah, stay with hope and expectancy, not with anxiety and distress. Allow hope to spring up. Hope is not the end, but it is a token of things to come.
Seven more days of waiting (a complete increment of time symbolizing God’s perfect timing). Then the dove is sent out again. She never came back.
At this point – the first recorded time since entering the ark – God speaks to Noah again. It is music to his ears, no doubt.
“Go forth of the ark…”
In the middle of God’s delay, Noah had no way of knowing how things were going to turn out. He lived every single day on that ark by faith. He is our example.
