“You can truly see God’s artistry in places such as these.”

“Look at this!!!!”

“I was shocked about this landscape.”

“It’s like heaven on earth up here.”

“It kinda’ is no man’s land.”

“Look, a double rainbow!”

“I didn’t realize the landscape was like this;  I just didn’t expect mountains.  Gorgeous!”

Words my daughter has sent to me over the past days, words that were accompanied by the photos of the beautiful places God has allowed her to walk.

We look at the world, we hike across the landscape, we pause to snap photos on our phones, we post pictures for our “friends” to see and enjoy, and we share these gorgeous photos and comments with those we love.

God’s world is filled with such amazing beauty!

Can you imagine what Noah thought when the rain finally stopped, the ark stopped bucking against the waves and settled into a float, one that lasted for ten full months?

Can you imagine what must have been going through his head when he first began seeing what he had not seen for so long?

Then imagine what Noah must have thought when the mountaintops began to reveal their peaks and he began to see mountaintops that he had not seen before, had not known BEFORE the FLOOD.

• Truly, Noah was in a different place than when he first entered the ark.
• Truly, Noah’s headspace was altered from where it had been when God first shut the door.
• Truly, Noah’s mind ran the torrent of thoughts during the whole time he followed God’s will—take care of the people & take care of the animals I have left in your care while you reside within the ark.  That was Noah’s task.

The Flood & Receding Water—What Does It Reveal to Us?

More than a year after God shut the door of the ark, the six people emerged and the enormous number of animals descended the plank to step upon God’s earth—the earth they had not seen for so very long due to the flood.

The Bible records what this scene looked like and the duration required for all the water to recede.  SEE WITH ME.

“Thus He [God did] blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth;  and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark;  and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.

Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained;

and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.

In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

The water decreased steadily until the tenth month;  in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made;

and he sent out a raven, and it flew here and there until the water was dried up from the earth.

Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land;

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.

So he waited yet another seven days;  and again he sent out the dove from the ark.

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.

Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove;  but she did not return to him again.

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.

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

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 animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth that they may breed abundantly 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 beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.”

(Genesis 7: 23 to 8: 19)

Mankind’s sin had caused God to send His wrath upon the earth.

Mankind’s disregard for God caused God to send the flood that consumed the earth.

God’s mercy and grace provided the WAY for mankind to be saved.

God Did All This!

God’s patience waited and God’s patience and mercy and grace continues to wait upon many who still need to turn to Him, to His Salvation.

• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah as he walked up that plank (way back when the earth had never known rain, BEFORE the people even knew rain).
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah right BEFORE God shut the door, BEFORE the first drop of rain.
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed the rain to stop and Noah could sense the ark was gently floating.
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to open the portal and to peer out at all the water across the face of the earth.
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to feel the ark rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to see the tops of the mountains become visible.
•  Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to send out the raven.
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to send out that first dove (the one who could not find a resting place and had to return to the ark).
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to send out the dove a week later (the one that returned with “the freshly picked olive leaf”).
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to send out the dove seven days later (this time not returning to the ark).
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to see “the water was dried up from the earth.”
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to remove the covering, to look, and to BEHOLD in such a long time “the surface of the ground was dried up.”
• Sometimes I wonder what the earth looked like to Noah AS God allowed Noah to leave the ark and to step onto the ground for the very FIRST time in such a LONG time.

Third Day sings a beautiful melody titled “Lift Up Your Face” (salvation is calling).

Maybe today, we should—lift up our faces to see God.

Maybe today, we should pause, push back from what we have always known, and maybe it’s time to SEE GOD!