And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. (vv.13-19)
Here, the command to leave the ark is given and obeyed. Just as Noah did not enter, neither does he leave the ark, without divine direction. Genesis 7:11-13 says that Noah entered the ark on the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of his life. This is now almost a full year later, "and in the second month of his six hundred and first year Noah left the ark." And, just as the ark was loaded with animals before the flood, it was now unloaded almost a year later. Living things from the ark would once again repopulate the earth.
The application here is that we should learn from Noah's example, to watch for and listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, to direct us in our life’s journey. While our life experience may not be as dramatic as Noah's, nevertheless we too should patiently seek God's direction through prayer and the reading of His word. Then, as Noah, never waver.
The Truth: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
