Not much is said about Noah’s wife in Genesis. (Chapters 6-8) She doesn’t even have a name. It is Noah who receives the message from God to build the ark and bring aboard all the animals. Can’t you just imagine his wife’s response, though?
“What are you doing, Noah?”
“God told me to build an ark.”
“God said what?”
“He told me to build an ark to save everyone from the coming flood.”
“What do you mean, ‘flood’?
"The Lord said, ‘I have decided to make an end to all flesh. Make an ark of gopher wood for I will bring a flood on the earth to destroy all flesh, but I will establish my covenant with you.’ I must obey the Lord.”
“Shouldn’t you finish the projects you’ve already started? There’s the chicken coop and the bread box and…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll use them.”
“Noah, I don’t understand you!”
She shrugs her shoulders and lets Noah continue with his project. Sure enough he finishes the ark and starts gathering all the animals.
“Noah, what are you doing with all these animals?”
“God told me to take them on the ark so they won’t drown.”
“How are you going to take care of them?”
“We’ll all help.”
“Noah! What are you thinking?”
“It’s what God said to do.”
His wife shakes her head and watches as the animals scramble aboard the ark, a male and female of each kind. After they are all aboard, Noah calls her again.
“It’s time! Get Ham, Shem, Japheth and their wives!”
“Time for what?”
“God says to get on the ark and we will be safely shut in so we don’t drown.”
“Noah, are you sure?”
“Yes, my dear, I am certain.”
“Very well.”
She sighs with resignation and goes to tell her sons and their wives to get on board. After they are all on the ark, the door is closed and it starts to rain.
“Look! It is raining, just like God said. My sons and my wife, this is a holy time. God is preserving our lives from the flood.”
“It will take more than this sprinkle to cause a flood.”
“There will be lots of rain. God said it will rain for 40 days.”
“Forty days! It never rains that much here.”
Despite her doubts, it does rain for 40 days and 40 nights. The waters cover the land and all living things are drowned. The ark continued to float on the sea for 150 days before landing on Mt. Ararat. After another 40 days, Noah and his wife have another conversation.
“Noah, we have landed. When can we get off this ark?”
“I’ll send out a raven to see if it can find food.”
“The raven won’t come back. He will find the carrion to eat, whether there is dry ground or not.”
“If he doesn’t come back, I’ll send a dove.”
“The dove returned quickly. There must not be dry ground yet.”
“I’ll wait another seven days.”
Sure enough, after 7 days the dove returns with an olive branch. Then Noah lets the dove go again and it doesn’t return so Noah makes the announcement they all want to hear.
“Come, Wife, we will all get off the ark now and offer a sacrifice to God for we are spared. Look in the sky. God’s bow is His promise that he will never destroy all the earth with a flood.”
“The colors are beautiful. Surely you and our sons are blessed.”
Having just returned from a trip to SE New Mexico, and explored two of the wonders created by the sea that covered NM in ages past, I am amazed at the all that God has wrought. From the same sea, two entirely different worlds emerged.
In the depths of that ancient sea a reef grew. After the sea receded, water continued to work and hollowed out the amazing underground formations thousands visit at Carlsbad Caverns. Only about 100 miles, as the sea gull or hawk flies, gypsum sands formed on the same sea floor. The sands compacted into stone and rose into mountains over millennia. Gradually dissolved by water and deposited back into the Tularosa Basin, the prevailing winds formed the nearly 300 square miles of White Sands. Now the Sacramento (NM) Mountains lie between the two, necessitating a journey of 150 miles to get from one to the other. It is well worth the effort. Seeing the expanse of sands from the highway down the mountain from Cloudcroft is almost more breathtaking than being in the midst of the sands themselves. Sometimes we feel flooded by the trials of our lives. Building an ark and sailing away is rarely an option. But God’s promise remains. The rainbow can be found if we take time to look at the wonders around us. You will see God’s fingerprints. Maybe you haven’t heard a voice saying ‘build an ark’, or recently visited some grand natural wonder, but if you look around, you will see that Barbara Brown Taylor is correct. In An Altar in the World she says, “The easiest practice of reverence I know is simply to sit down somewhere outside…and pay attention [even to just] the 3 feet of earth on which you are sitting.” When we are able to see the wonders and not the trials and floods, we can say with the psalmist “Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way, and he will exalt you.” What are some of the wonders God has put in your life?
