Origin Story: Genesis 8:1–22, “When the Waiting Isn’t Wasted.” October 11, 2026.
In our passage this morning we are going to see the crisis of the flood is over, but Noah and his family are still waiting on the Lord. (Anyone ever been in a season of waiting on the Lord?) Maybe we’re trying to make a decision about our career? Maybe we are in a place where we feel stuck in our marriage?
In our passage we are going to see how the Lord is working even when we are in that uncomfortable place of waiting. Let’s look at Genesis 8 verses 1-3:
Genesis 8:1-3, “1 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. 2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.”
If you are new this morning we’ve started walking through Genesis verse by verse.
Genesis
- Chapters 1-2: Creation is perfect.
- Chapters 3-6: Humanity is growing in death and violence.
- Chapter 7: God brings judgment.
- Chapter 8: New creation.
Genesis 8:1-3, “1 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. 2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.”
Genesis 8 opens like Genesis 1-2 as a new creation. The Spirit of God is hovering over the face of the deep as wind and water begin to uncover what God created to be good. Look at verses 4-5:
Genesis 8:4-5, “4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 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.”
After the worship service last Sunday Alicia asked me if I had heard about the ark possibly being discovered in Turkey. Have you heard? There is a boat-shaped formation in eastern Turkey and it is near Mount Ararat! It was actually identified in 1959, but recent scans have identified unusual underground features including levels, sections, and organic material inside the formation! Is that Noah’s Ark? We don’t know. But the focus of our passage is that the Lord is at work; water is receding and Noah and his family are waiting. Look at verses 6 and 7:
Genesis 8:6-7, “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.”
I like verses 6-7 because the Lord isn’t giving Noah step-by-step directions on what to do next while he is waiting. Do you see it? Noah is just looking out the window like, “Yep, that’s a lot of water!” He’s waiting! Look at verses 8-9:
Genesis 8:8-9, “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.”
We don’t really know why Noah switches from raven to dove. But, the focus of our passage is to see the emotional thread for Noah and his family as they “wait on the Lord.” The waters going down. Mountains are becoming visible. Birds keep coming back! It can get frustrating while we wait!
In some ways, it reminds me of our church family the last few months. We were wondering what was going to happen? People were asking questions. We didn’t have a lot of answers. I remember, walking around this room in prayer over and over and the only words that could come out of my mouth, “Lord, what are You going to do?”
And, today some of those prayers are getting answered! In September, we had 22 new people visit on Sunday morning. That’s awesome! We have 5 people moving into serving roles this week! Fantastic! Our financial giving is moving in a positive direction! Praise God! But there are areas of our church family where we are still waiting on the Lord! We are still growing in our ownership of North Village Church! We’re still praying for the Lord to raise up new elders / spiritual leaders in our church family! We’re still asking the Lord to grow us closer in biblical shepherding!
I am guessing there are plenty of us in the room who are waiting on the Lord! I am guessing there are some areas of our life where we’ve been waiting a long time. I can tell you on a personal level, I don’t like waiting. Sometimes when I am in a season of waiting I can start thinking, “Maybe I did something wrong?” Like waiting is God’s punishment?
But Genesis 8 is teaching us that “waiting on the Lord” is a normal part of our relationship with Him, because the waiting process is building our relationship with Him. Look at verses 10-12:
Genesis 8:10-12, “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.”
The olive leaf is a sign of land that’s growing in vegetation! Land is habitable! Fantastic! But, I want to make sure we see the progression of Noah waiting on the Lord? The Lord could have just told Noah, “Wait till 62 days till I tell you the next step.” But, the Lord is working in the waiting!
How many times have we said, “I couldn’t see what the Lord was doing in the moment, but then I looked back over months and years and I see His faithful hand over our lives?” Isn’t that what happens? We’re growing in His trust. We’re growing closer to Him. We’re learning how to hear from Him. During that time He’s working around us and in us. That’s what’s happening in Genesis 8!
Maybe He gives us an “olive branch” here or there walking around the Domain in Austin, TX, but most of the time it’s just more prayers, more waiting. I wish I could tell you there is as short cut to waiting but this is a common pattern throughout Scripture. The Lord tells Abraham he’s going to have a son, but Abraham has to wait on the Lord. Abraham doesn’t do a great job of waiting, creates a little chaos for himself, but the Lord is still faithful.
The Lord tells David he is going to be king, and then David waits for years hiding and running for his life, and waiting on the Lord. Genesis 3 the Lord tells Adam and Eve, “One will come who will crush the head of the serpent.” And they wait, generation after generation they wait until one day Peter and John run to the empty tomb, as the Lord fulfills His promises of Genesis 3!
What’s encouraging about Genesis 8…. the olive leaf wasn’t the end of the waiting. The olive leaf was just a reminder that the Lord was working. Look at verses 13-14:
Genesis 8:13-14, “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.”
Verses 13-14 are funny because verse 13 ends with the ground being dry and verse 14 ends with the earth being dry, so I guess there’s a difference between something looking dry and something being dry, so that again we see the focus is on waiting but then in verse 15 the Lord speaks. Look at verses 15-17:
Genesis 8:15-17, “15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 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.”
In Genesis 6 the Lord tells Noah to build the ark. In Genesis 7 the Lord tells Noah to get into the ark. And, in Genesis 8 the Lord tells Noah to get out of the ark, so that the focus of our passage is the relationship being deepened between Noah and the Lord. That’s the invitation of God’s Word.
Today we get tired of waiting. As a church in Austin, we get frustrated waiting. But the hope that is made available in Jesus isn’t the Lord may do this or that in our life. Maybe those things happen? Maybe they don’t. The hope made available in Jesus is that we have Jesus! We are waiting on the Lord with the Lord! Jesus didn’t come just to do this or that in our life. Jesus came to give us Himself. Amen? Look at verses 18-19:
Genesis 8:18-19, “18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.”
Noah has been waiting and waiting, and now the new season has arrived. Him and his family have been in a boat with animals for over a year! A year! On some level verse 18 should be read with incredible excitement. He went out! But on another level, we need to remember the ark had become a place of safety, security, familiarity for over a year, and now the Lord is sending them out of that which is familiar. Do you feel the layers?
And in a similar way, sometimes we are going to be in seasons of waiting and waiting and waiting. Sometimes we’re going to give up. We’re going to lose hope! We’re going to forget! And, then it’s possible, one day the Lord shows up and says, “Go!” In that moment, the prayers are answered. We got the job. Reconciliation took place. The impossible happens, and it’s possible that next step can feel a little scary.
I’ve seen married couples navigate adultery, which is awesome, but the new season after adulty is like starting that marriage all over again. I’ve seen careers take a completely different direction, but it typically comes with some challenges because it’s hard to let go of the old and embrace the new.
Let me press in a little, because I am sure Noah was like, “Man, I just got use to those porcupines!” Now, I got to figure this out! I think about our church family in this way. I think it’s possible the Lord wants to do something new in our church family. I think he’s doing it right now, but at the same time, I think we could be a little nervous about the unknown.
New relationships. New experiences. New rhythms. New possibilities, but I want you to see the familiar becoming unfamiliar is a normal part of walking with Jesus. Consider Ephesians 2:8-10:
Ephesians 2:8-10, “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
In verses 8-9 we see the gospel! And then, in verse 10 we see the word “for” which means explanation… “for we are His workmanship.” That’s Genesis 8 type language! That’s new creation type language! The Lord has done a work in the men and women in this room. And He’s still doing a work, but we need to remember we are “His Workmanship, created for good works for His glory, which He has determined!”
My wife and I are in our 50’s and we got married at 22-24, and I remember when we first got married we were like, “Lord, I’ll move anywhere, I will do anything, I just want to be in step with You.” And we meant it. We explored opportunities at moving to Germany. Moving to Boston. We just wanted to be in step with the Lord!
And today, sometimes I will say to her, “I want us to have that same mindset we had in our 20’s.” Because in my 50’s I feel this fear of the unknown washing over me. I feel this feeling of pull back, slowing down, and disengage from people. I feel this draw to want to hang on to the familiar. I feel this longing to want to burrow into a hole, so I love those reminders in God’s Word reminding me to open my heart to Him and what He’s doing as He tells Noah, “Go!” Amen? Look at verses 20-22:
Genesis 8:20-22, “20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. 22 “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
I love that Noah’s first out of the ark steps out of the ark aren’t to build a house or set up a farm. Instead, He builds an altar of worship unto the Lord. I love this, because we don’t see the Lord telling Noah to worship Him. Instead we see Noah’s natural response of worship by Noah toward the Lord.
This is why we sing before the sermon and after the sermon on Sunday morning. We sing before the sermon because the Lord is worthy of our worship, but we also sing after the sermon because we can’t help but worship. Amen? That’s Noah’s response! That’s the invitation of Genesis 8: (SLIDE)
Invitation of Genesis 8:
- We wait on the Lord.
- We trust He is working.
- He’s preparing us to respond and follow Him.
Let’s lower the lights. Let’s invite the worship team to the stage. We didn’t touch on it, but there’s something incredibly powerful about verse 21. The Lord says, “The intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Look at verses 21:
Genesis 8:21, “…and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth.
Genesis 8 makes it clear the problems of humanity didn’t get solved with a flood. Humanity didn’t get saved through Noah and his family. It’s because humanity needs more than a cleansing of a flood. Humanity needs a new heart! When you read the Old Testament, it is clear the law and the prophets weren’t enough to cleanse humanity. The kings and the priests weren’t enough to cleanse humanity. They were never meant to. They were always meant to be a shadow that point to Jesus.
In the Old Testament they are waiting for the Savior to come. In our day, we are waiting for the Savior to come again and finish what He started. His name is Jesus! He lived a perfect life. He died on the cross for our sin. He conquers death in the resurrection. He comes to crush the head of the serpent, just like He promised in Genesis 3.
If you’ve never trust in the Lord, you need to do that now. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that Jesus rose from the dead. He isn’t just saving us from something, He’s saving us to something! If you’ve never met Him. You should!
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in North Austin near the Domain, serving Austin and the 78757 area. We are a church family learning to know Jesus, love people, and live with Him at the center. We would love to meet you in person on Sunday. Find service times and plan your visit at northvillagechurch.com.
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