These verses demonstrate this. He never told Noah whether
or not he could send a bird to see if the waters had gone down. he left
that up to Noah. He had given Noah great ingenuity, knowing that Noah,
if he followed the Lord, could use it for good. Contrast this with the
imaginations of those in the pre-flood world which were on evil
continually. Certainly, if Noah had chosen a bird which would stand little chance of surviving - let's say a turkey - God would have told him, "Noah, turkeys can't fly like that. Pick another one." But, Noah used the intelligence God gave him, too, which is crucial to understanding freedom. Just because one can do something doesn't mean one should. Noah wasn't going to waste a turkey.
This alone is an important lesson for us. We don't have to
feel so limited we can't do anything. Noah could have sent any other
number of types of birds out, or he could have just sat there and
prayed. Of course, he was probably going a bit stir crazy after all that
time so it makes sense that he used his energies to learn. In doing
things this way, he no doubt discovered things about these kinds of
birds mentioned here if he didn't know them before, for instance. (Remember each
creature was saved after its kind, so there weren't many kinds of doves,
for instance, but one pair from which many different types would come,
one of them having a part in the next verses.)
First, he sent a raven. Ravens are more scavengers then
some birds. It's likely that Noah understood this, and while we don't
know for sure it appears from the words used that this raven flew around for longer than the
dove. It seems to have eventually found land, but searched until the waters had receded and there was dry land to be had.
In the same way, we as Christians sometimes find ourselves
in very difficult spots. We go perhaps a bit early to find God's plan
for our lives, only to find that we need to wait. However, just as this
raven kept searching, we need to be persistent. The raven eventually
found what it was looking for. Perhaps Noah sent it a bit early, but
God was the one truly in control, and He didn't let anything bad happen
to this bird, giving Noah the grace to be able to make his own mistakes and discoveries without being forced to follow God. He doesn't force us to love Him - we love Him becasue he first loved us, and He draws us so we will want to follow Him.
