Genesis 8: Hope in God’s Restoration — Daily Word

Noah checks the receding floodwaters by releasing a raven and dove, discovering new life through an olive leaf and preparing for God’s next instruction after the great flood.

Hope in God’s Restoration

1. [Scripture]

[6] At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made [7] and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. [8] Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. [9] But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. [10] He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. [11] And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. [12] Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. [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. [14] 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. [17] Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” [18] So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. [19] Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. (Gen 8:6-19, ESV)

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2. [Daily Word]

# Noah checks how much the water has receded.

Forty days after the tops of the mountains became visible, Noah sent out a raven. The raven kept flying back and forth around the ark, indicating that there was still nothing but water surrounding it. Unlike the raven, which can swim on the surface of the water, Noah then released a dove — a bird that can only move about on dry land.

Through the dove, Noah was able to confirm that nothing but water still surrounded the ark, because the dove returned to him shortly after being released. So after seven days, Noah sent the dove out from the ark once more.

Toward evening, the dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak. The fact that the dove brought back an olive leaf signified that a new heaven and a new earth had been created and that new vegetation was growing. Since the olive tree is a plant of the lowlands, this also indicated that even the low-lying areas had dried up completely. Noah waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return.

In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw with his own eyes that the water had dried up from the face of the ground. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry. And so Noah waited expectantly for God to speak.

# Noah believed that God would give him a new land.

In that confidence, he sent out the raven and the dove and was making preparations to depart. We do not always live according to God’s word, because there are many times when our own will takes precedence. However, if we truly believe that God has granted us our place and portion in life, we need an attitude of entrusting everything to Him. When we surrender our entire lives fully to God, He will take complete and sovereign control over every aspect of our lives.

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# As soon as the land was dry, God spoke to Noah.

Verses 16–17. Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. God now permitted Noah to set foot on the earth—not the corrupted earth of before, but the earth made clean once again by God’s grace.

There is one thing we must clearly remember here. God gave Noah the covenant declared in verse 6:18—”I will establish my covenant with you.”

3. Application

Because the phrase “be fruitful and multiply on the earth” appears again in verses 16–17, we might be tempted to think this promise was given exclusively to Noah. However, what is clear is that this covenant was God’s covenant given through Adam—a blessed command from the Creator God, granting the earth to all of humanity.

Therefore, this covenant clearly applies to us as well. We will bear fruit and flourish only on the land that God has granted us, and the blessing of multiplication belongs precisely to that place.

For the covenant word given to us to become a truly blessed word in our lives, what we must do is live according to God’s Word alone—remembering His Word, and anticipating and trusting in the grace He will provide. Just as God showed Noah the dry ground in His time, may we believe that He will also give us good land to walk upon, and may we live today leaning wholly on the Lord.

Noah’s Ark, new beginning, God’s guidance, sign of hope, obedience and blessing

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Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com