Genesis 8

It's been more than a year, but Noah and his family are finally allowed to get out of their gigantic, floating menagerie. Notably, before Noah sends out his famous dove slave to find out if things have dried out yet, he sends a raven. When the raven fails to find anything, Noah decides to send the dove instead. Why did Noah give up on the raven? Did it do something to miff him, like release some treasure from the sky onto an unfortunate, Noah-shaped target? After all, the dove also failed to find evidence of land the first time it went out; Noah didn't subsequently decide to use a turkey for the next expedition.

The animals come out of the ark, "one kind after another" (verse 19). They probably all had cabin fever, raring to get out, so I wonder how Noah and Company decided what the order was. 

The first thing Noah does when he gets out--no, he doesn't kiss the ground, or unceremoniously fall onto it because he hasn't gotten his land legs yet--is to sacrifice an offering to God. On one hand, he's been through the wringer for more than a year in close proximity with a variety of beasts. Oh, and then there were all the animals too. But on the other hand, he knows that his family is the only one that has been kept alive, so yes, he has much to be thankful for. 

God rather fancies the fetching smell wafting from the burnt sacrifice (and yes, I know it's symbolic, but  it's still a cool image), so he makes a covenant with Noah. He expands on it in the next chapter, so I'll go more into it in the next post. For now, I'll note that God will extend His grace to humanity "even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood" (verse 21). We are born with sin, even if it doesn't literally manifest itself until we grow past infancy. Only through God's grace can I overcome my sinful nature. Not to say that I become utterly depraved when I ignore Him, but I definitely tend to make more unwise decisions when I do.

Throughout the whole flood, we don't get an indication that God spoke with Noah. Did Noah wonder during that long year whether God was jerking his chain? Christians go through times in their lives when they feel that God isn't there or has outright abandoned them. I've just gone through a long stretch of my life in which I haven't felt God's presence--even now, I'm still struggling with that feeling. Then again, I haven't really been doing my part, slacking in my spiritual life. What about those who pray earnestly and selflessly, going through hardships or privations I can't imagine, but who still feel that God has stopped caring for them? I can't offer words of false hope as that would be hypocritical. The only real hope, other than God Himself, comes from Scripture. Even Jesus cried out during His final moments that His Father has forsaken Him. But His undeserved death led to our salvation.

One could argue that God hasn't really been explicit on a large scale since He gave John the revelation of the end times. I can't fathom why God has decided to do this, but it is undoubtedly for a purpose far more glorious than we could ever imagine.