Revision as of 18:31, 8 October 2024

Genesis 8:1-16, Remain Patient

Nathan Wakefield / General Praise You in This Storm / Genesis 8:1-14

Theological Proposition/Focus:Trusting in God's faithfulness and timing, we can find hope and strength to patiently endure life's storms, knowing that He remembers us and fulfills His promises. Through obedience and faith, we can weather the difficulties of life. This passage teaches us the importance of patience, obedience, and faithfulness in waiting for God's timing and deliverance. It shows us that God is always faithful to remember His people and fulfill His promises.

Christ Focus:In Genesis 8, Noah's obedience and patience point to Jesus Christ, who endured suffering and remained obedient to the Father's plan, ultimately bringing salvation to all who believe. Christ is the ultimate example of patience and faithfulness in the midst of life's storms.

Homiletical Proposition/Application:In the midst of life's storms and difficulties, we can find hope and strength in God's faithfulness, remembering that He remembers us in our struggles. By remaining patient and obedient like Noah, we can trust in God's timing and promises.

Introduction

Image: I am not a patient person but sometimes it is required, flying out of LNK

I am not a patient person, you can just ask Emily. Sometimes the Lincoln airport is a test of my patience. The airplane I fly needs just under 1000ft of runway to take off and even less runway to land. There are times when the Lincoln airport is moderately busy and it just about eats me up inside. I will be sitting ready for takeoff and the tower will tell me to wait. Then I pull up my radar and look and sure enough there are 3-4 planes lined up to take off. As I sit an wait I am constantly thinking to myself, there is a solid two minute gap between these airplanes. I can get out and be off the ground, just let me go. But the controller tells me to wait. They know what is best and so I patiently wait. But waitiing is hard!

Need: We need to learn how to be patient people.

Preview: In today's sermon we are going to see the patience of Noah on display. What we will see is that Noah remained patience trusting the sovereign God of the universe, he waited on God's signs and timing, and ultimately was able to be patient because he made a point of abiding in God.

Text: Genesis 8:1-16 read all at once before the first point.

Setting the Stage:

Last week we finished with Noah, his family, and the animals in the ark and the flood waters upon the Earth for 150 days.

Body

Anchored Amidst Adversity - Patience is possible because God is the sovereign of the universe (8:1-5).

God's remembrance of Noah amidst the flood signals His unfailing presence even in our darkest times. Like Noah, believers are called to remain anchored in hope, trusting in God's sovereignty and timing despite not seeing immediate changes in our circumstances. This mirrors our faith in Christ, who endured the ultimate storm on our behalf.

Even though God's scale is incredible, He takes note of mere humans (1).

Verse 8 begins with a simple phrase. God remembered Noah. But there is more. The contrastive word "but" is a reminder that in contrast with the destruction that was brought upon the earth by the flood God is about to do something else, restoration. Remembered is not a reference to God calling to mind Noah, instead it is a reference to God's covenant fidelity. God is a promise keeper and so God remembering Noah is a reference to God's work to fulfill his promise.

God has promised to save Noah and he was going to keep that promise. For the Israelites leaving Egypt at the time this was written this would have been an important reminder. the God of the universe is not going to fail you. While here were only 8 people in the ark, God kept his promise to those 8.

We today must remember that God cares for us even though we are mere humans. God is not about to fail you and you can depend on his promises. God has promised eternal life to all who accept Jesus as Savior. You can count on it. God has promised the comforter, you can count on it. God has promised to meet your needs, you can count on it. God has promised that Jesus is coming again, you can count on it. When life is hard, remember, God takes note of mere humans.

Even though God's scale is incredible, He faithfully guides the small details (2-4).

The subterranean springs didn't just stop. The rain didn't just stop. God sent wind over the earth to begin drying everything out. Slowly creation was restored as the Earth began to heal from the devastation of the flood.

As the water receded, the ark fairly quickly came to rest on the top of a mountain. I grew up in Colorado and there were a couple of times when major flooding occured. I want you to realize something, when water flows and recedes it is violent. The fact that the ark came to on a mountain top kept the ark from that violence. It spent less time in the churning waters but think about it, what are the odds? Mountain peaks are small in all reality and there really are not that many mountain peaks around the world compared to the total area of the world. In fact, 71% of the earth is below sea level. God is a God of details and he knew exactly what he was doing.

Image: White water rafting

Emily and I went white water rafting a couple of times. The currents are incredible. I remember one time we pulled the rafts a side so we could do a little swimming in a place where the water was calmer. We were jumping off of a rock into this small pool of water. Well, Emily didn't quite jump far enough and she landed in the moving water. She was instantly swept downstream and looked at me with a look of terror as the water pulled her away. Thankfully, we were prepared and someone was downstream anchored in a raft in case something like this happened. He reached out and grabbed Emily and pulled her into the raft.

Can you imagine what it would have been like if the ark had not come to rest on a mountain right away? I don't think white water rafting through the Grand Canyon in Noah's ark would work very well!

Even though God's scale is incredible, He still provides glimmers of hope (5).

Ok, picture this, the ark has come to rest on the top of a tall mountain, but as far as the eye can see you just see water. The waters are receding but it is taking forever. But after three months there is a glimmer of hope. Sitting in the ark you begin to see something. First it is a little dot in the water, then the next day that dot has grown, a week later the dot has begun to take shape, it is the top of a mountain. The water is in fact going down. The Earth is still around. Life is going to continue. The God of creation has restored the planet.

In life God provides small reminders that He is in control. You may need to pay attention, they may only break through the surface of the water but these glimmers of hope remind us that God is at work.

MTR: Patiently look for the small details that remind you God is in control.

How? By actively seek God's guidance in the midst of life's storms, similar to Noah's actions of sending out the raven and the dove while patiently waiting on God's signs and timing for deliverance.

Awaiting Divine Directions - Patient waiting means we wait for God's signs and timing (8:6-12).

Noah's actions of sending out the raven and the dove, display the idea of patiently waiting on God's signs and timing for deliverance. This illustrates the virtue of discernment and continued faithfulness in the smallest of actions, much like how Christ showed patience and obedience to God's will even in moments of suffering. Actively seek God's guidance in their storms.

Noah's test reveals that he trusted God in the midst of patient waiting (6-8).

I want us to take a moment here and consider the flood timeline.

• Rain fell for 40 days
• 110 days after the rain stopped (150 days in) the ark came to rest on Ararat.
• 74 days later (224 days in) the tops of other mountains become visible.
• 40 days later (264 days in) Noah sends out a raven
• 7 days later (271 days in) Noah send out the dove the first time
• 7 days later (278) days Noah sends out the dove and it returns with an olive leaf
• 7 days later (285 days) Noah sends out a dove and it does not return
• 29 days later (314 days) Noah removes the cover of the ark
• 56 days later (370 days) God commands Noah to leave the ark,

The dove and raven prove that Noah expected God was going to restore the Earth. Noah's tests are not tests of God in the sense of not believing God. No the tests of Noah show that Noah did believe God and wanted to know how far along he was in God's plan. Waiting patiently for God does not mean doing nothing it means trusting all the details to God.

Noah's persistence reveals that his trust was more than skin deep (9-11).

The raven of verse 7 is a scavenger and would have been capable of feeding on floating carcases. The act of releasing the raven is a reminder that life will continue but it is not a guarantee that life will flourish. The dove is a test to see if life on the renewed earth can flourish. Initially, the answer is not yet. But as the days pass the dove returns first with a leaf and then not at all. The answer is clear. God is renewing the earth.

Noah could have given up once the dove came back empty. He could have settled in his heart that God had fulfilled the promise to save him but not for anything other then scraping by on the ark or in its immediate vicinity. But Noah did not settle. Noah's faith had depth and so he expected God's fulfillment of promise to depth.

Here is a thought. Does the depth of our faith impact the depth of fulfillment we expect from God?

Noah's patience reveals that he was willing to wait on God's timing (12).

I know what I would have done. The minute the ark came to rest I would have popped open the door and gotten knee deep in mud before I realized I had a major problem. Noah was patient. Noah waited on God.

I am guessing that at this point some of you want to ask me about all sorts of specific nuanced scenarios and what it means to wait on God's timing. Well guess what, I think this is one of those situations where if you just take a second you know what it looks like. In the moment we know what it looks like to jump ahead of God and to wait. If we just slow down and take a moment to pray then we know!

Image: Being willing to wait is really hard

It was a stormy day and Emily and I were in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi. We had just landed after having flown through the worst storm I have ever been in earlier that morning. The clouds were thick above us and I told Emily we are not doing that again. If the clouds are not at least 1200 feet above the ground we will not take off. Agreed she told me, and so we waited. After a nap we checked the weather, 900 feet was the report. Well, I said, there is a car here at the airport for pilots to use, do you want to go into town and get Waffle House? Dumb question, of course she did. As we sat at Waffle House the rain began to fall (and like every good Waffle House the roof began to leak). Good thing we waited or we would have been in yet another storm.

We returned to the airport, I took the plane and filled it with gas and we checked the weather. 1000 ft. Well, we legally can go, but it is not 1200 feet yet. And so we waited. Finally, as afternoon began to come the report came in 1200ft. We loaded up the airplane and headed straight out. After taking off and hitting 700ft Emily got out the ipad and began navigating giving me bearings on every tower and obstacle I needed to avoid. Finally, 30 minutes later we were behind the stationary front and the clouds began to break apart. We were home free. We could climb to 6000 feet and enjoy the smooth air that altitude always brings.

As we finished out the long flight home we talked. We really should have waited that first flight of the morning. Had we waited and been patient we would have had a much easier day overall and probably never would have had to land in Mississippi.

MTR: Determine that when patience is required you will take time to wait.

How? By taking time to pray faithfully over major and minor decisions.

Abiding in God's Assurance - Patience is only possible if you abide in God (8:13-16).

Noah's decision to wait for God's command before leaving the ark, despite the land being dry, proves that Noah was willing to abide in God's assurance. Complete obedience and patience in our walk with God, means we take steps only when He directs us. Through Christ's sacrifice, we are assured of God's perfect timing and faithfulness in fulfilling His promises to us.

The dry land must have been inviting but Noah waited for God (13-14).

314 days after the flood began Noah finally removes the cover from the ark opening up the ark to the new world on which Noah found himself. The ground was finally able to support life but Noah was willing to wait for God.

I have seen many a kid throw away a key part of a present because they didn't wait. I remember one Christmas after burning the wrapping paper at the conclusion of unwrapping presents my cousin realized that in the process of unwrapping gifts he had left the gift card in the pile of paper.

We live in a world filled with blessing but we must be careful. God is the giver of every perfect gift. James 1:17 states "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." Since God gives the gifts we can trust his timing. When we abide in God's provision we don't throw away the best part.

Noah waited

God's rewarded Noah's patience with a clear answer (15-16).

Finally, after 370 days Noah and the family emerge from the ark. Noah patiently waited and God definitively answered. So, what does that look like today?

• We should wait for God when making decisions
• God's answers may come through the study of His Word.
• God's answers may come from conversations with His people.
• God's answers may come from the direction of the Spirit.

Regardless, wait for God's answers. If you don't have peace, if no one else has seen the answer, and the Spirit is not leading you then maybe you are in a Noah situation. The cover has been removed, you see what is good but God hasn't told you to go just yet. If that is the case then I would encourage you that instead of jumping in feet first you take a moment and ask God to give you a clear indication.

Image: Gideon and the fleece

About 15 years ago a classmate and I were talking about discerning God's will and I told her the story about Gideon and the fleece. God told Gideon that he would save Israel through Gideon's leadership but Gideon wasn't sure. Instead of questioning if God was able to save Israel Gideon seems to have questioned if he understood what God was going to do. So, Gideon asked God to participate in a sort of test. Gideon places a wool fleece on the ground and in the morning there was only dew on the fleece. But Gideon still wasn't completely sure so the next night he put out the fleece and in the morning the fleece was dry but the ground was wet. I told my friend. As long as you are not doubting God himself you are safe. You are allowed to doubt yourself and your interpretation of what is happening. Ask God for clarit! God is willing to work with us in our fallen inability to understand what God wants from us.

The next day she told me she had intentionally left a blanket out on her balcony to see what would happen. Ok, maybe that wasn't the point but the story of Gideon is an important. We learn that we can afford to wait on God and ask God for clarity. We can abide in God and trust that the Spirit working through our hearts and the hearts of those around us is going to clearly communicate to us our next steps.

MTR: Evaluate your own life. Where is God asking you to be patient right now are you willing to abide in God?

Specifically, What does it mean to abide in God's assurance?

We demonstrate complete obedience and patience in our walk with God, taking steps only when He directs us.