Day 1:  The Smell Of A Fresh World

Reading:  Genesis 8:1-22

I’ve always wondered why on earth Noah allowed some pointless animals to creep into the ark. Like did he really get a couple of rats and feed them for all those 30 days that the storm lasted and the 150 days or so till the earth dried up?

I really wonder what life was like on Noah’s ark. And more than that, what was it like waking up to life after the ark.

If you were one of Noah’s floating companions, I wonder what would have been going on in your mind and heart when you saw the dove bring back a freshly plucked olive leaf that indicated that the flooded earth was drying up. 

You see, they had been locked up for months not just in an ark, but in an emotional hullabaloo.  

There has probably been a weird combination going on in your mind-  gratitude for every new day, but mixed with fear and uncertainty of each coming day. The darkest days you’ve ever seen have actually been  the most miraculous days too.

As I think of a lot of what has happened in our world space lately-  the uncertainties and fears that we have all dealt with in some way or the other. I think of how the entire world has walked through, what is in many regards, the darkest times ever known.  

But I feel like now, we’re opening up the ark and standing on the verge of a new season.

Can you smell the freshness of hope- the freshness of the raven’s leaf inviting us to a new season? 

Beyond every emotion Noah and his floating companions would have felt when the door of the ark opened up, I think they really needed the courage to step into that hope of the new season ahead.

A lot has been lost. A lot has been wiped and washed away. A lot has been shaken and challenged. 

But the focus now has to be stepping out of the ark in which God has miraculously kept us, and living in the power of hope. 

Do you smell the stench of a dead world or the fresh smell of a new beginning?

Can we believe that God is using these next 21 days to create a freshness in us. He’s preparing us to thrive in His plan and purpose that’s ahead of us.

Our God is in the hopes ahead, not in the losses behind.

We need to embrace the freshness of a new hope and new vision. We can’t afford to still be living in all that God has ordained the flood season to wash away.

As we wait on God and seek Him today, He is pleased to spark a freshness in our spirits. 

Today as you walk out, walk out like a sojourner in your new earth space. Refuse the stench of a dead world and ask the Holy Spirit to wake you up in you the fresh smell of a new beginning. 

Or let me ask you- imagine you were one of Noah’s floating companions, and now the door of the ark has just been re-opened after these several dark months (you can fill in the blanks of what this has been in your context). 

Now, heaven is listening for what you call this. The devil is also running thoughts in your mind. 

What is this smell to you? What do you call this? The stench of a dead world or the fresh smell of a new beginning?

In Prayer Today

1. Ask God to deliver you from an enslavement to the losses behind, and to wake you up to the hopes ahead of you.
2. Pray to be totally aware of the New Beginning God is inviting you to. 

Recommended listen

What Did The Prison Do To You? – Tolulope Moody