Land of the Living

Genesis 8:6-7, Psalm 116:7-9

Bible says in Genesis eight verses six and seven

After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. (Genesis 8:6-7)

The flood had lasted a long time. First it rained, the waters rose for forty days, then it took a longer time for the waters to go back down. After all they were higher than the highest mountain. The ark floated for 150 days before it ran aground on the mountain. Still it wasn’t safe for the animals or for people.

The Bible tells us Noah sent out a raven. A raven can eat many things it’s a scavenger and it won’t fly as far away as if he released a hawk or it or an eagle. So Noah lets the raven loose and the Bible says that it just keeps going back and forth, back and forth. It seems the water wasn’t down far enough for most of the other animals or for Noah’s family.

Remember this is a boat that’s designed to survive a worldwide flood it’s not a cruise ship with windows and a sun deck. So Noah and his family still have to wait and they still trust God that one day, one day they will get off of the ark. One day they will walk on dry land again. But how hard that must have been for them and how disappointing when that raven didn’t find a place, just kept flying back and forth.

Well listen to Psalm 116

Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living. (Psalm 116:7-9)

The person who wrote this Psalm seems to have known what it was like to be afraid. What it was like to be on the ark. He talks about crying for mercy, he talks about being surrounded by death. How scary. But in the verses we’re hearing his faith speak. God will deliver him. God will dry his tears and God will one day bring him to a place he calls the the land of the living.

And that’s the place that I want to tell you about this morning. The land of the living, that’s heaven. And you can trust that one day no matter how often you seemed to go back and forth like that raven, one day you will be walking around in that land. You will because Jesus has lived. He has died. And he has risen for you.

Thanks be to God. God keep you in the faith until that day the day that you are in the land of the living. Amen.

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(We’d like to thank the Ark Encounter for the use of their promotional materials in this video.)