Have you ever seen a rainbow in the sky after a rain shower or a storm? I am sure many of us have seen more than a few rainbows in our time. Every time I see one, I am always amazed and filled with an overwhelming since of joy and calm. I mean rainbows are breathtaking, aren’t they? Rainbows may be the very reason why I don’t have a favorite color. No, I don’t have just one favorite color because I love every color. The colors on the wall at my house can testify to this fact.
As a child, I used to toggle between this color and that color, but as an adult, I determined that it was okay to admit that every color is my favorite color or that all colors are my favorite colors. And oh, how I used to love coloring as a child, especially if I had the 64 count Crayola crayons. Yeah, coloring was good times for me back then.
Well, as a believer, my infatuation with colors has been intensified by what the Word of God says. First of all, God, as our Creator, created every color that we know and are able to see. Nature testifies remarkably to His brilliant artistry. We don’t ever have to wonder if one color goes with another color or not. All we have to do is to peruse nature's landscape. There are so many beautiful things in nature and so many incredible color combinations. Even the storm clouds, though ominous, are picturesque. And don’t even mention the animal prints that many adore, though the animals who adorn such gorgeous coats are wild and dangerous.
Time doesn’t permit me to list out everything that I deem to be beautiful. And I am not just talking about the heavens and the oceans, the landscapes and the vegetation, the creatures of the sky, the land, and the waters; no, I am talking about all of the vast array of humanity too. God has created some beautiful people. Just as I am with colors, I believe that all people are beautiful, which I learned and asserted after studying Genesis 1-3 years ago as a new believer. Now, the things we do ... well, that’s something else. But through Christ, our inward beauty grows to match our outward beauty.
Let me stop because my mind keeps trying to fine tune what’s so miraculously beautiful about everyone and everything.
Getting back to how God’s Word magnified my love for every color. It was the story of Noah (Genesis 6-9). Because of the wickedness of mankind (Genesis 6:5), God decided to wipe everybody out; everybody except Noah, who had found favor in God’s sight, and his family (Genesis 6:8-10). So, Noah obediently built the ark that God told him to build in preparation for the coming flood, which took decades. Noah and his family and the pairs of animals he was told to take entered the ark. Then the flood waters came, raining, for the first time in Scripture, for 40 days and 40 nights, wiping out all life on earth.
Once the waters receded completely, after about a year, Noah and his family and the animals emerged at God’s command to start life anew. Now, here it comes - God made a covenant with Noah, after Noah had sacrificed a burnt offering to Him.
Genesis 8:21-22 (NIV)
21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again
will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the
human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living
creatures, as I have done. 22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and
harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
Genesis 9:8-17 (NIV)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my
covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living
creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all
those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I
establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by
the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the
earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making
between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant
for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds,
and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14
Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of
every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16
Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the
everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the
earth.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established
between me and all life on the earth.”
God promised to never destroy everything like that again. Never again would there be another epic flood to destroy all life on the earth at one time. And He didn’t stop there. He gave us a sign of this covenant - the rainbow. God made the rainbow as sign of His promise to us and all life on earth. Notice that the rainbow is His rainbow: “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, ... (Genesis 9:13)”. (Keep in mind, that we normally only see a rainbow after it rains or when there are water droplets in the air that the sunlight can shine through at just the right angle. Now, that’s something to think about.)
While the world might assign different meanings to the rainbow and attempt to hijack it to represent something it was never meant to represent, when I see the rainbow, I know what it means. And I am thankful to God for giving us such a wonderful sign of His covenant, even though He knows that “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood (Genesis 8:21).” You see, the rainbow testifies to what our wickedness as mankind once warranted, total destruction. Thus, it amplifies our need for a Savior, who we have in Jesus Christ Himself.
LORD,
I appreciate the rainbow and all its beauty because it reflects the vast array of
the love you have for mankind expressed through your Son, Jesus Christ. You
are worthy, LORD, of all the praise we can and should give you, for you loved us
enough to send your one and only begotten Son, who loved us enough to die on
our wicked behalf while we were yet sinners (John 3:16 and Romans 5:8).
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
So, if you see me with a rainbow of any kind on me or illustrated in any kind of way in the space I may occupy, please know that I am not supporting what the world has tried to define it as. No, I am acknowledging the promise that God made with mankind and all life on the earth and representing the faith, hope, and love we have in Jesus.
