Recently, while on a run in our neighborhood, a dove swooped right in my path holding a sprig of green in its beak. I smiled as I remembered the dove's significance for Noah. At that moment I heard in my Spirit, "The time is coming to emerge."
The next day the section in my Bible reading plan happened to cover Noah's story. The Lord began highlighting pieces of Noah's testimony that we are being invited to grab a hold of now in our own lives and circumstances.
Genesis 5:29 declares that Noah's name meant "May he bring us relief from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed" (NLT). While they may not be solely locked in our names, we each have similar prophetic destinies and invitations written into our very making before we were ever born. These invitations linger for the intersection of the timing of the Lord and our obedience.
Waiting on the Lord's Timing in Faithful Obedience
By the time the dove with the sprig in its beak makes it to the scene of the story, Noah has been obedient for quite some time. Everything had been washed away. He was merely waiting. Maybe you can relate to that feeling in your own season. He sent out a raven (Genesis 8:7). It found nowhere to land (until the land dried).
Instead of quitting, Noah tried again. He released a dove. This time the dove came back in the boat (Genesis 8:9). The Lord inspired faith in Noah to release the dove one more time. This time the dove came back again, but it had an olive leaf in its beak (Genesis 8:11). Noah knew the time to emerge was coming quickly. A week later he released the dove one more time, and it did not come back (Genesis 8:12). Not giving into impatience or leaning on his human senses, Noah still waited two more months until he heard from the Lord, "Leave the boat" (Genesis 8:16).
There may have been things you released in obedience that, due to timing, never "landed" like the raven. The prophetic promise here is that the raven did land eventually when the land dried. Those things released in the past that were released in obedience, those prayers released that felt like they never landed, may just be like the raven. Waiting on the timing and conditions to land, their impact is yet to come. (Photo via Pexels)
Some of you may have even tried again or tried a different method (a "dove" instead of a "raven"), only to feel like things were going in the opposite direction of the Lord's promises. I can only guess when Noah had the dove do an about-face and return that this must have felt like he was even further from the mark. Not only could the bird not land, it wouldn't even stay "released" outside of the boat. Maybe you've experienced a similar discouragement in your journey. You didn't give up. You continued to "release" in accordance with the directions the Lord gave you. God is now sending the olive branch in the dove's mouth. It is a sign to listen, wait on His voice, and be ready, because the time is coming to emerge.
Carrying God's Promises
First, Noah's emergence carried with it several promises that apply to our own emerging. It was a fulfilled promise. Noah's name meant "May he bring us relief from our work and the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed." When he emerged and worshiped the Lord in sacrifice, the Lord was pleased and spoke this fulfillment:
"Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (Genesis 8:21–22 NIV)
There are promises the Lord has declared over you that will be fulfilled in times of stepping out.
Second, it was also an invitation to multiplication and stewardship. Chapter 9 of Genesis opens with God blessing Noah with a similar blessing to Adam (to be fruitful and multiply) but also giving guidelines on how to responsibly manage his authority in a way that pleased the Lord. We see this theme with Adam, with Noah, with Moses, and others—that when a new land is entered, and God's intention is for the people to be fruitful and multiply for His glory, He gives them instructions for stewardship. As we receive the blessing of being a part of God's multiplication, let us not forget to seek Him for His guidelines on how to steward it responsibly.
Finally, it was a covenant invitation. The rainbow was a new and beautiful sign of God's covenant to Noah (Genesis 9:13).
As I thought about the rainbow in the natural and how God's choice to use it reflects the nature of His covenant, I felt the Lord say, "My covenant is not a thing discovered but a thing observed."
You Don't Have to Hunt Hard for the Rainbow
I realized how true that was. Noah didn't need to hunt hard for the rainbow. He didn't need to unlock the secret formula to see it. He just needed to observe it, to witness it, to look up and fix his eyes on it. We have the promises of Jesus painted over our lives just like the rainbow painted in the sky. Living in that covenant—operating in that Kingdom in fruitfulness and multiplication—doesn't require unlocking the code or intense hunting. It requires observation. We contribute to the expansion of the Kingdom when we serve as a witness to it. (Photo via Pexels)
Observation is a fascinating principle in the natural. Quantum physics even has a phenomenon called the "observer effect" which, in oversimplified terms, states that on a subatomic level, the nature of particles is affected simply when they are observed. When we focus on, look for, or witness (testify to) what God is doing, we literally shift the atmosphere.
As we prepare for the emergence that God has for us and wait on His voice, let's not forget to look for fulfilled promises, new instructions, and to fix our attention on observing the ways the Lord is moving. In doing so, we will find an invitation to a deeper awareness of the covenant Jesus fulfilled that allows us to walk in the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.
Encounter Questions:
1. Lord, please remind me or reveal to me a promise You've spoken over my life.
2. Jesus, in what ways are You teaching me stewardship of more in this season? Please reveal to me Your guidelines or instructions for the new things I am stepping into.
3. Holy Spirit, what is one way I can "observe" (or fix my eyes on) the ways that You're moving around me right now?
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Sara Whitten
Arrows of Zion
Email:Â sara@arrowsofzion.com
Website:Â www.arrowsofzion.com
Sara Whitten is an author, speaker, and founder of Arrows of Zion Ministries which has been offering resources to equip to the body of believers since 2017. This ministry focuses on creating space to regularly encounter God's voice and live lives that are fertile soil for the kingdom of God. Her writings are featured in many publications, including the Elijah List and Charisma. She also hosts "Hear God Every Day," a podcast with tools to help amplify the voice of God amidst the noise of everyday life. She and her husband currently reside in Kerrville, Texas with their three children.
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