Good Afternoon Child of the Most High God,
God’s Word has something for you today.
God’s Word has breath for your lungs.
God’s Word has power to infuse into your weary bones.
God’s Word is a light to guide you in the darkness.
And no matter how many times you read it, there’s always NEW provision in it. It’s alive and active and sharper than a two edged sword.
And in continuing the story of Noah, we see that He is a man who moves on the WORD of the Lord.
He doesn’t move without the Lord’s instructions.
So often we hear preaching about how Noah ENTERED the ark, but have you considered how he EXITED the ark?
When we focus on the story, it’s usually the fact that Noah listened to God and built the ark by faith purely on the Word of the Lord.
But did you know He also got out of the ark on a Word from God?
Think back to the story and if you know it well, you’re imagining the dove returning with the olive branch in his beak. And many times we think that’s how Noah knew to exit. I’ve read this story many times and I thought Noah got out of the ark when the dove got sent out and didn’t return.
Just like Noah waited 7 days in the shut up ark before it started to rain, he found himself waiting AGAIN when it was time to get out.
The Bible makes it clear. The land was DRY. Read these next two verses. The ground was dry and then again the bible states it a second time, “the earth had dried out.” So it was really really DRY.
Still Noah didn’t MOVE out of the boat. His family remained in the boat.
In the Natural with our regular senses, it was time to GET out of the boat!
But actually that’s not when he left the ark! He actually STAYED in the ark for some time until He got the next instruction from the Lord.
He didn’t move until the Lord spoke to him again and told him to!
Amazing right! He can SEE dry land! He’s been in the ark for MONTHS! It’s gotta smell! He must be ready to place his feet on the ground again.
But STILL he doesn’t MOVE until God says to! Look closely at this next verse. God gives the instruction to go out from the ark, and then its says, “So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife, and his sons’ wives.” That means the entire family waited. They all waited despite seeing the dry out ground for days and days and days. They just waited by faith that the SAME GOD who sent them INTO the ark would give the word to come out! And He did!
So as you wait on the Lord, remember Noah. It may make sense in the natural to move. You may feel ready to exit the ark. You may feel tired, weary, ready to throw in the towel and just move into your next assignment. You may feel totally ready for your next season.
But there’s a powerful lesson here from Noah.
Pause.
Wait.
Lean into the Lord.
Get in the secret place.
Be in the Word.
And be ready to move when the Lord reveals the next instruction.
And because we are in the New Covenent and the Holy Spirit is now available to everyone who asks, we can inquire of the Lord directly.
When I pray over my children, something I pray often is that they would hear the voice of the Lord louder than every other voice. I pray that they will tune in and obey the voice of the Lord and another they will not follow.
Our natural senses see things and want to move. Noah’s natural senses would have said to move. But yet, he waited and tuned himself up to hear from the Lord first, and no other voice or circumstance could get him to move prematurely.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Strengthen us to wait on Your Word. Strengthen us to build our life on the Word. Strengthen our hearing to be sensitive to Your voice above all of the noise. May we be a people marked by Your Presence and known to move at the sound of Your Voice and another we will not follow. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.
Blessings and forward movement at the direction of the Lord,
Vanessa Lynn
