My wife's folks are ten hours away by car. We make the journey at least twice a year, on average. It is a long trip to make in a car, for sure. By the time we must stop for gas, we are all ready to get out and stretch. The older I get, things hurt more, you know? Things that never used to hurt... Some of us know that feeling.
Noah was in the same boat (pun intended). He had been on board the ark for nearly a year with his family and a sampling of every known animal on the planet. Do you love your family? Do you love your family and their spouses enough to take a one-year cruise with them? Well, Noah did. Then the day came where something quite surprising happened. The ark hit something. Land. I can imagine a jolt of a boat contacting an immovable object. Granted, the ark was larger than the Titanic, so a gentle landing might have been the case... but I digress. Noah's spirit must have jolted, for sure!
(Gen 8:13) In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.
YES! We get to get off the boat! YES! When can we disemb-ark, Lord? Lord? Lord...?
There were crickets on the ark, and Noah heard them. Nobody could not leave yet. We don't know what the dialogue was, if there was any, but it had to sound quite whiny.
Gen 8:14-16 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. (15) Then God said to Noah, (16) “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you.
Notice, the waters were dried off the earth in the first month on the first day, but God didn't say leave until the second month on the twenty seventh day. That's nearly two more months! WHY? I'm sure Noah asked it repeatedly. Why Lord?
We are not told why, but this we can be assured of: it was for Noah's benefit. Nobody except God knew the hidden dangers upon an earth that had been submerged in water for a year. We can take this to heart, too. When we look out the window and the conditions seem favorable to move, make sure God has said to move. The eyes lie. He does not. The answer may be, "Not yet. Wait a while."
