A Freshly Plucked Olive Leaf

A Devotional Series from Genesis

Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)

7/1 Reading Portions: Joshua 3; Psalms 126-128; Isaiah 63; Matthew 11

Genesis 8:10-11

He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.

DOVE

First of all, we should note the patience of faith. Noah waited another full week before he sent the dove out again. Often, our patience is a bit too full of passion, desiring answers and blessings from God now, in our time, not His.

Second, we read of this incredible result from the dove’s journey. She returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her mouth. Now, if that hasn’t blown your mind, you haven’t thought about it clearly enough. Granted, you may not have experienced some of the things I have in my 66 years on the planet. In my first career, I was a deep-sea diver in the U.S. Navy. During my tours of duty, I’ve been in just about every kind of natural disaster and sea state you could think of—8.0 Richter Scale earthquakes, super typhoons, and even a volcanic eruption in the Philippines in 1991, one that made the Mount St. Helen’s eruption in 1980 look like a popgun in comparison. And all this is besides the fact that I’ve walked on the sea bottom all over the Pacific in various locales. One thing I know without a doubt: that after reading the cataclysmic event of the worldwide deluge in Genesis 7 every year these past forty-one years, with the floodwaters rising and raging until the tops of the highest mountains were covered with a little more than four fathoms of water for over six months; even with the waters receding, there is no way that any tree survived that. Not only did the flood of judgment destroy all the animals along with all the wicked descendants of Adam who were not in the ark, but also all the vegetation would have been destroyed. YHVH God, in His abounding mercy and by His amazing grace, miraculously provided an olive tree for the dove to pluck a fresh leaf!

This also presents the wonderful gospel illustration that when the Lord Jesus sends us out as His witnesses (John 20:21), as lights in the world testifying of His glorious light (Matt 5:14), whatever fruit comes forth, whether it’s saved souls or encouragement toward brothers and sisters in Christ, it is the work of our Triune God, for His glory alone (1 Cor 1:30-31). We simply receive the privilege of being participating witnesses in His sovereign work.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!