June 3rd, 2025: Genesis 7.11, 8.13,14

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the fountains of the great deep split open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.
— Genesis 7:11

Now it happened 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.
— Genesis 8:13-14

Noah and his family lived on the ark for 1 year and 10 days. That is a large amount of time to be restricted in a boat while the world around you is a symphony of crashing waves and chaos. Noah’s faith was shown in the 120 years that he obeyed and built the ark before the flood; but, his faith is also shown in his trust in God during the flood. We are not told of God ever giving Noah a timeframe of how long he’d have to live in the ark. Yet he did not doubt God or give up his faith, but remained strong during the storm around him, leaning on his God. Do we lean on God when destruction is all around us? Would we hold our faith if we were in constant chaos for over a year? God could have brought the flood and then removed it just as fast, yet He didn’t. Sometimes the time is there for us to grow and learn to trust in the one and only solid ground in our lives: Yahweh our God!