| THE OLIVE LEAF Genesis 8:4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. After five months of clouds and rain the flood began to recede. But the waters went down ever so slowly at first. Another month and a half passed before the ark grounded somewhere among the Ararat mountains, and yet another two and a half months after that before the waters receded enough for the tops of those mountains to be seen. Here is yet another lesson in patience. Even when our circumstances begin to turn it may still take quite some time for God’s design to fully manifest itself. It may take some time before we can discern that a real change for the better is taking place. In the mean time we must continue to live by faith. This lesson in patience is especially applicable to these end times. Twice in Revelation when the prophecy depicts God’s faithful people being under intense attack by the enemy, they are called on to be patient, to endure - knowing that in due time their deliverance will come. It had been a long voyage and you can bet that there was rejoicing in the ark when at long last they felt it come to ground on that mountain top. This was truly a mountain-top experience for Noah and family. And isn’t it true that often our greatest spiritual highs come just after our deepest spiritual lows. It is when, after faith has been stretched to the limit, and after waiting so very long we see the first glimmers of the divine hand in action that we have our greatest rejoicing. People often think of Ararat as being a single mountain, and they picture Noah’s ark coming to rest on a mountain called Ararat. But that is not the case. The Scripture here speaks of the “mountains�?of Ararat - and they speak rightly for Ararat is not so much a single mountain as it is a mountain range. But the Bible does not tell us exactly which one of mountain peaks in that range that the ark finally came to rest on. Genesis8:6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. Have you ever had a case of cabin-fever? Well if anything could give it to you it would be being cooped up in an ark for the better part of a year. The ark had come to rest somewhere among the Ararat mountains. The higher ground was beginning to come clear of the flood waters. And Noah was anxious to check on how things were progressing. And so, using the resources he had at hand, Noah sent out a raven and a dove. The raven kept flitting back and forth using the ark as a home base. The dove took one look and headed back home to the ark. There just wasn’t anyplace to go yet. Genesis 8:10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. Seven days pass and Noah once again sends the dove out. Like before, the dove returns to the ark, but this time it brings “a freshly plucked olive leaf�?/FONT> back with it. That freshly plucked olive leaf speaks volumes about what God had been doing as the waters receded. To me the text seems to imply that the “freshly plucked�?/FONT> leaf was plucked from a mature living tree. If true, that would in turn imply that as the waters receded, God had been systematically covering the newly exposed land with vegetation. Here we see once again the goodness of God. This also follows the pattern set in the original creation week. At creation, on the third day of the Creation week, before God created the various animals that would populate the world, He first created the vegetation that would provide for their various needs: food, shelter etc. In Psalms it says of God: Psalm 145:15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. 16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. God so ordered creation that not one of His creatures had to wait a day for the comforts of life. All the they could need, all that they could desire was prepared ready and waiting for them beforehand - even for the very least of His creatures. And so it would be when Noah and family and their animal passengers finally were allowed to leave the ark. They would, when they finally exited the ark, find a world already prepared to receive them. But they still had a little time to wait yet before it would be time for them to exit the ark. | 
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