Divine Deadlines and Birds
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. – Genesis 7:11-12, NIV
By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry. -Genesis 8:13-14, NIV
“There is no place for Mother Earth in biblical ideology. Earth owes its powers (not her powers) to the divine command.” -Kenneth A. Matthews
Deadlines. When you put a day certain on the calendar, it often seems to be a long time coming. Whether it’s a vacation or a root canal, the waiting can seem interminable. But, then suddenly, the time which was coming is now here and it is all happening so fast. So it is with Divine Deadlines. Of course, we don’t get to set the date and often we don’t know in advance the time. But, the day comes when time is up and whatever it is that God has promised to do, it is now coming to pass. The flood is a great example of this reality. God said that He was going to bring a flood. God gave Noah time to make the ark and outfit it and even get the animals corralled. And then, the moment came when the long anticipated happening, happened. All of this is fine enough on the face of it, but I mention it because, there is a Divine Deadline that ought to be on our calendar as well. The long anticipated “Day of the Lord” is yet future tense. It is a moment of enteral consequence. It is a moment that no one knows the day or hour of and yet, we must all be ready and doing all we can to ready those around us. For the day will come, just as the day of the flood came. All those years of waiting and building and preaching and storing food and keeping animals led to one Divine Deadline. And the moment God shut Noah and his family and the rest of the ark dwellers in, time expired. No more waiting. No more choosing. No more rescue offering. No more hearing the truth and having time to decide. No more time. The deadline arrived and with it the judgement of God came. I wonder how many days Noah rose and thought to himself, “How much longer do I have to build, prepare and preach? Why is this taking so long?” I wonder if when the door shut, he thought, “I wish I had just one more day, one more chance.” And that makes me reflect on my own choices each day. How am I doing at stewarding today in light of the fact that a Divine Deadline hangs over me? When Jesus arrives or calls me home, will I think, “I wish I had just one more: day, conversation, opportunity?” My prayer is that God will help each of us to make the most of every opportunity, and see the people around us ready for the day when the waiting is over and the Divine Deadline has come.
Birds. If you know me then you know that I am a little nature obsessed. Even so, never had the birds in the Ark story caught my attention for very long. In studying this past week though, something about the birds emerged that I had never thought of before. Derek Kidner writes, “The raven and dove almost ask to be treated as a parable; indeed the Holy Spirit, by taking the form of a dove, probably pointed to this episode with its suggestion of that which is sensitive and discriminating, the harbinger of the new creation…and the guide of those who await it. The raven, in contrast, content with it carrion, was no harbinger of anything: its failure to return was as uninformative as would have been the report of Demas (2 Timothy 4:10) on the state of society.” It is pretty intense to think that the symbol of the Holy Spirit, whose baptism indicates new life, and peace with God is the one to announce, without words, that the flood is ending, and new life has come to the earth once again. Kenneth A. Matthews comments similarly about the raven, noting, “The raven’s departure from the ark signified that the impurities of the past had been removed and the creation of the new world had a fresh start.”
Questions for further discussion/life application:
Reflecting on your story, when is one time where you know for certain that God ‘remembered’ you like He remembered Noah in the flood? How does that encourage your faith today?
What is one area of your life where you are not giving enough weight to the reality of a Divine Deadline? How can you change your approach?
Who in your life is lost and needs to hear the Gospel before its too late? Are you praying for that person? Are you seeking active opportunities to share? What one step can you take next time you see them?
A funny bit, here is the Tim Hawkins part I referred to on Sunday.