by Sandy Kirby Quandt

While reading the account of the flood in Genesis 8 recently, I spent time pondering how Noah’s wife might have felt during the whole event.

At the beginning of the chapter it says God didn’t forget about Noah and all the animals in the boat, and 150 days after it rained for forty days and forty nights, the boat came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. Three months later, the waters continued to go down. After another forty days, Noah opened a porthole and released a raven and a dove to search out dry land. The dove returned. The raven didn’t.

Again Noah released the dove one week later, and another week after that. Twenty-nine days after that, Noah opened the door to look and the water was gone.

Eight more weeks went by. Then at last the earth was dry, and God told Noah, “You may all go out.”

Okay. Did you do the math? For over a year Noah, his wife, three sons and three daughter-in-laws, plus countless smelly, stinky, noisy, animals of all kinds lived together on a gigantic boat as water destroyed everything they’d ever known.

It was the end of the world as they knew it, and I doubt they felt fine.

Can you imagine it? I’m not sure I can. They never experienced rain before, much less flood. Now, here they were on a boat hoping it stayed afloat, trying to go about their everyday lives as if nothing epic was happening.

Did Noah’s wife wonder if they brought enough food? Did she wonder how she would keep the clothes clean? What about taking care of the animals? And the water! Did you ever see such a sight? Let’s hope she and the daughter-in-laws had good relationships.

Oy, vey.

Do you think she wondered if they’d ever get off the boat? Do you think she wondered what their new lives would be like? After all, it was just the six of them now. Do you think she ever questioned God? Or questioned Noah?

Do you think when the dove returned the first time with no evidence of land, she felt disappointed? Maybe even distraught. Possibly depressed. Or do you think she took it all in stride, got out her broom and swept the deck … again. What about the second time the dove returned?

What would we have done? I guess to answer that we can look at our lives and what  we do when our expectations aren’t met. When our hopes are dashed. Our dreams go unfulfilled. How do we react?

Looking at how we deal with the events of our life might give us insight as to how we might have dealt with the flood if we’d been Noah’s wife. Probably not many of us have dealt with anything as historic, but we’ve got to be faithful in the little things to be faithful in the big things, right?

So what do you think? Would you have been a happy boater or not?

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Then God told Noah, “You may all go out. Release all the animals, birds, and reptiles, so that they will breed abundantly and reproduce in great numbers.” So the boat was soon empty. Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives all disembarked, along with all the animals, reptiles, and birds—all left the ark in pairs and groups. Genesis 8:15-19 (TLB)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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