Several years ago I was sitting outside enjoying the beauty of a Big Sky Montana summer morning. It was a beautiful morning and I was dwarfed by the panoramic views from our yard; 360 degrees of unobstructed, bright blue sky filled with large white puffy clouds. God’s creation is glorious!
I noticed circling high above my head a dark spec on this brilliant blue background. Getting lower with each circling pattern, it didn’t take long to identify this seeker in the sky as a crow. He finally descended to the ground, having spotted his morning’s meal from such a lofty perch. I couldn’t see what he was pecking at but no doubt it was the carnage left from a coyote’s kill the night before.
I told our daughter, “Imagine how disgusting it would be to spend your life eating what something else had killed and left to rot in the field.”
By now you must be asking yourself “where is she going with this? I thought she was going to write a message. Oh, but I am. Sometimes it takes a while to get through the introduction to the meat of the message but here it is.
This crow reminded me of the raven on Noah’s ark.
“Forty days later Noah opened a window to send out a raven, but it kept flying around until the water had dried up. 8 Noah wanted to find out if the water had gone down, and he sent out a dove. 9 Deep water was still everywhere, and the dove could not find a place to land. So it flew back to the boat. Noah held out his hand and helped it back in.
10 Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. 11 It returned in the evening, holding in its beak a green leaf from an olive tree. Noah knew that the water was finally going down. ” Genesis 8:6-11 CEV
Noah and his family had been on the ark for over 5 months. The rain had stopped and the ark rested on the top of the mountain. No more floating! Noah waited a bit and then he sent out a raven, which the Bible says went to and from until the waters dried up. Noah also sent out a dove “to see if the water had receded but the dove found no resting place” so it returned to the ark.
Why didn’t the raven come back?
The raven had a ready food source. The bodies of the animals and the people who had drown provided him an unlimited food supply. They also provided him with a place to rest. He could sit on their decaying bodies and didn’t need the trees or the ground.
The dove on the other hand needed life – green shoots and seeds to sustain its life so it returned to the ark. Noah waited 7 days and sent the dove out again. It returned that evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah knew that life was returning to the earth. He waited another 7 days and sent the dove out again. This time the dove didn’t return so Noah knew it had found a place to rest and food to sustain it.
I’m so glad that Father God used a dove to symbolize the Holy Spirit and not the raven or the crow.
“So Jesus was baptized. As soon as he came up out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. 17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.” Matthew 3:16-17
The Scriptures tell us that when John baptized Jesus that the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. A dove, bringing signs of life – a dove resting on the One who is the giver of life! That really blesses me. The Holy Spirit has been sent to infill and empower each believer as a sign of our new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus said he was the bread of life , living water and that the Holy Spirit would cause rivers of living water to flow from us.
Christ promises that we will have full and abundant lives when we are following him. He came to give us life and not just life, but life more abundantly.
“So I am not the one living now—it is Christ living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in[a] the Son of God. He is the one who loved me and gave himself to save me.” Galatians 2:20 ERV
This wonderful life is a free gift from God. The term “dirty, rotten sinner” is oh so true because a life of sin is death (crow’s food) but our new life is a gift from God – abundant and free!
“ Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 ERV
Our life is to be filled with fruit, life affirming attributes that the Holy Spirit brings; love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness and patience.
So I encourage you today to make sure there aren’t any ravens circling over your head. Be a vessel of life and let the “dove” descend and fill you with peace!
“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6
Further reading: (John 1:32-34; John 4:10-14; John 6:48; John 7:37-39; Luke 3:21-22; Mark 1:10-11 and Matthew 3:16-17)