Your gift opens you
What scripture says is important. Sometimes what scripture doesn’t say is important, too.
For example, in the story of Noah and the ark, we read rain falls for forty days and forty nights (Genesis 7:12). We also read God tells Noah to keep the pairs of all animals aboard the ark alive during the flood (6:19).
Scripture continues. Five months after the rains cease, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Two and a half months after the ark is held in place and the waters continue to recede, other mountain peaks appear. Forty days after this, Noah releases a raven and later, a dove. The dove returns. Seven days later, Noah releases the dove a second time. The dove returns with an olive branch. Seven more days pass. Noah releases the dove again. This time, the dove does not return (8:4-12).
What scripture doesn’t say is that Noah never receives God’s timeline on this. Noah isn’t clued in on how long he’ll be on the big boat with a lot of responsibility.
If Noah did have God’s timing, he wouldn’t have released the raven when he did. Unless, of course, he packed three ravens (so that two could exit the ark and successfully multiply). That the dove is released three times also suggests Noah didn’t know God’s timing.
Noah did have some specifics. He had the exact requisites for how to build the ark. (Details on the materials and the design of the ark are found in Genesis 6:14-16.)
Imagine Noah through this time. When building and then living on the ark, he had a lot of time to think, wonder, and perhaps even worry. Some of us can’t keep a houseplant alive for five months. Imagine the care of thousands of animals out of their habitat with no one to call for help.
And there was the raven he had cared for—and perhaps even loved. The bird did not come back. Is that an “oops?” Had he taken a misstep? Done something wrong?
Also, he had to live with the knowledge that all of humankind was destroyed. Every animal except those with him had died as well. These cannot be easy thoughts.
Yet through the rain and then the waiting, I imagine Noah felt blessed. Afterall, God had spared him and his family (who were onboard with him). I also imagine Noah felt God with him at all times. This adventure—ark, animals, flood, and finally dry land atop a mountain—was truly (and forever will be) one of kind.
Let me share an obvious thought. Blessings are gifts. We tend to think of gifts as something we open. Um. Think Christmas and birthday!
Here’s another obvious thought. We open gifts.
In this month’s sermon series, I flip this. I suggest our gifts open us. Our gifts (our blessings) change, enlighten and align us to connect and commune with the same God who was always present to Noah. Our gifts and blessings open us to name and claim not only who God is but also how God is.
What Noah receives by way of a divine design changes him. His gift opens him. Sure, I could be speculating, but I believe Noah connects more precisely and passionately to God because he knows God not only in the plan but also the provision.
Think about a vacation.
Wait! Come back for just a second!
What happens on a vacation (even if it’s a day trip or walk around the water for a short while) is we see things differently. We take in—and let out—things differently. With some exceptions, of course, a vacation opens us to a new or refreshed understanding, appreciation, and connection.
Vacation? Did Noah experience a topnotch cruise with five-star accommodations including a full wait staff, 24/7 pizza bar and unlimited drink stations? No. It wasn’t all bliss, but he would say he was blessed.
You, too, can be blessed. Let your gifts open you.
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