Scripture
Genesis 8:6 ~ 14
[6] Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made;
[7] and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth.
[8] Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land;
[9] but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself.
[10] So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark.
[11] The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth.
[12] Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again.
[13] Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.
[14] In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is 117th Lecture on Genesis.In the last lecture, I said we can learn a couple of lessons from the fact that Noah sent out a bird.First, faith is followed by deed.
Before the Great Flood, Noah established perfect obedience to God’s word.At this time, however, he was in the level of just obeying the word in a situation given by God. For example, God gave him all the instructions as how to build the ark and what to do.God Himself worked even when loading the animals into the ark.
After the judgment of the flood, however, the human cultivation began anew.As the judgment of flood was about to end, God was leading Noah to show his deeds all by himself. God was leading Noah so that Noah would be inspired in what to do by himself and accomplish the will of God.
The Israelites who just escaped from Egypt crossed the Red Sea entirely by the grace of God. But when they crossed the Jordan River, they had to show their deed of faith.God led them to show their deeds as much as their faith grew up.
Our Jesus also guided people to show even minimal faith as He manifested the power. It was the case when He made the man blind from birth open his eyes and see. He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.”
Did He say this because he couldn’t heal the eyes of the blind man only with His words?Was it because the pool of Siloam had something special to do with opening his eyes?He guided the blind man to show his deed of believing in the word of Jesus and obeying it. It was because, only then, he could believe Jesus as the Savior and receive eternal life.
As you can see, when people do what they are supposed to do before God, or when they obey without using their thoughts, it can be recognized as faith, and they can experience the work of God. And through this process, their faith in God can grow up, and they will eventually reach salvation.
You may feel that, during the course of your faith growing up, it seems slower to receive answer than before. Chances are that it can be due to the wall of sin. But if you find no wall of sin when you look back, chances are more likely that it is in the process of God’s checking your trust in Him.
When a baby is too young to walk, parents can hold him and carry the child on their backs. When the child has to walk by himself, even when he falls down and cries, they don’t hold him unconditionally.It is because, if they always hold him out of pity, he will never walk on his own by himself.There are times when the Father of our spirit lets us grow like this.
And so, if you feel as if you were all alone in the course of refinement, remember what I just said. I hope that you can understand the good will of the Father God and His deep love. And I wish that you will never grow disheartened or despaired, but just get up and stand again.
Dear brothers and sisters,
From the fact that Noah used birds to see if the water was abated, secondly, we can see that it had become more difficult to communicate with God. Before the Great Flood, Noah could communicate with God clearly, and hear and learn many things from Him.
Once the flood began, however, the situation was changing. As the flood began, the original light was completely withdrawn from the earth, and the force of the flesh grew stronger. On the 1st day of the Creation, when God said “Let there be light,” the original light surrounded this earth.
From the moment Adam was driven out to this earth after he committed sin, the original light began to be withdrawn. To the extent the original light was withdrawn, the creatures on this earth began to reveal their original fleshly attributes. However, the original light was stronger, and thus there wasn’t much trouble in communicating with God.
But the original light was completely gone after the flood and the original fleshly attributes became much stronger. Therefore, communicating with God required much greater effort and more deeds in action and faith. Before, it was easy to communicate with God by the grace of God, but now much more effort and toil became necessary to go through the spiritual realm.
How much more true is it in this end time when sin and evil prevail so much worse?You have to pile up countless prayers and fasting to pass through the spiritual realm and communicate with God. Fortunately, unlike the days of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of God’s children. So please, do not cease, but be awake and pray always in the Holy Spirit. I hope that you can receive the clear voice and inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that you can be guided from the darkness into the bright light.
Brothers and sisters, when Noah wanted to see if the water was abated, he used a raven and a dove. Genesis 8:7 says, “and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth.”Even the raven flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth, it didn’t bring the answer to Noah. Eventually, the raven didn’t become any help to Noah.
It was not the raven but the dove that brought the answer Noah was waiting for.Why did Noah send a bird out from the ark?It was to hear the good news, “The water was abated, and the water was dried up from the earth so that they can live there.”The raven didn’t bring in this news, but the dove brought this news to Noah. Noah could know about the world outside the ark not through the raven, but through the dove.
Now, are you a worker in the kingdom of God like the raven, or like the dove?Please look back on yourself to see what you did when you were given instructions to do something in an organization. Did you act only by the instructions that were given, or were you one of those people who did nothing at all?Or, did you do more than what you were instructed to do?
Among this 3 categories, who would please and satisfy your boss the most?It is the one who does more than instructed. The same apples not only in the church, but also in any organizations in the world. If you want to achieve recognition and succeed, you must do more than your given roles require.
In most cases when you say it is hard to work in your company, chances are that you don’t even take care of your duties. If you are short of capability, you should constantly make efforts to increase those capabilities. In addition to that, you must enlarge your heart vessel.
And it is the same in your believing life. When God the Father finds a child who not only obeys but also does more than that, He is touched and expresses His love.Proverbs 25:13 says, “Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, For he refreshes the soul of his masters.”
If you refresh the heart of God the Father, you will receive answers whenever you pray.By the way, the reason there was difference between the deed of the raven and that of the dove was that their heart vessel and heart soil were different.Even though it is the same seed, depending on what soil you plant it, the taste or the character of its fruit is different.
Likewise, even when the same seed of ‘word’ falls into the hearts of all men, the result can be different according to their heart field. Some may yield only as much as it is sown, or much less than that. On the other hand, there are other cases that yield 30, 60, and 100 times more fruit. Depending of the state of the heart field, and the size of the heart field, the result will be decided.
Therefore, I urge you to diligently cultivate your heart filed into a good field. And at the same time, break your self-righteousness and frameworks to enlarge the size of your heart. If you can understand what God the Father wants from you and do it according to His heart, how much will it refresh His heart! Furthermore, if you do much more than that, Father God will be touched in His heart and He will ask, “What shall I do for you?”May you become like this faithful messenger in the sight of God, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray!
