Forty Days

All week we have been reading about Noah and Flood. Today the story comes to an end with another Promise from God. After coming to rest on top of a mountain, Noah opened the Ark. Nothing was the same except one thing. After proving his faith in God, Noah worshiped God.

And in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.  And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.  At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.  Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground; but the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him.  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 lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.  Then he waited another seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she did not return to him any more.  In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.  In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.  Then God said to Noah,  “Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.  Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh – birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth – that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth.”  So Noah went forth, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.  And every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves upon the earth, went forth by families out of the ark.  Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.  And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.” Genesis 8.4-21

Many have asked me over the years why Great Lent is forty days. Just reflect on this week’s readings. It rained for forty days. Then the Ark rested on the mountain for forty days, but it doesn’t end there.

Christ also fasted for forty days before His public ministry. In the ancient Church the catechumens would fast forty days in preparation for their baptism at Pascha. We fast for forty days to imitate Christ, but it doesn’t end there.

Studies show that establishing new habits requires about six weeks, or forty days. Do you really think the examples of forty days in the Scriptures and Church history is a coincidence? God already knows what we need. Since we need about forty days, He gives us forty days.

If we are going to succeed in our new habit of life in Christ, then we need to take full advantage of the entire forty days of Great Lent. Noah had to wait forty days before opening the Ark. Too soon, and the water may have entered the Ark. Too long, and he would have been stuck on top of the mountain.

Forty days wasn’t the end of Noah’s journey, it was just the beginning. Great Lent won’t end our journey either. Noah worshiped God and began his new life. Pascha will come and we will worship God. Then our new life will really get going.