Genesis 8:6-12: a reflection

6At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, 7and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, 9but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned into the ship to him, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. 10He waited yet another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ship. 11The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. 12He waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; and she didn’t return to him any more.

The flood has crested and Noah is waiting for it to recede, but he cannot yet see dry land. So he sends out birds. The raven goes back and forth. He sends a dove, and it finds nowhere to land and comes back. He waits another seven days and sends it again, and this time it returns in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak. And by that small green leaf, Noah knew the waters were going down.

Notice how modest the sign was. Not the whole earth suddenly dry, not a triumphant announcement, just a single olive leaf, a small, quiet token that the worst was over and life was returning somewhere out there. Noah had been shut up in the ark for a long ordeal, waiting, watching, and God gave him not a grand deliverance all at once, but a little leaf, enough to know that hope was justified.

That is often how God brings us out of long, hard seasons, not usually all at once, but with small signs that the waters are receding, quiet tokens of returning life we have to watch for, as Noah watched. If you are waiting out a long flood of your own, keep watching for the olive leaf, the small evidence that the worst is passing and new life is near. And notice Noah's patience: he waited, and sent again, and waited. Wait patiently, watch for the small sign, and take heart when the leaf comes. The waters are going down.

Lord, you often bring us out of long, hard seasons not all at once but with small signs of returning life, an olive leaf that says the waters are going down. In my own long ordeal, give me Noah's patience to keep waiting and watching, and eyes to notice the quiet tokens of hope when they come. Help me take heart at the leaf.