The storms had stopped. The waters had receded. Noah’s ark rested on a summit of the Ararat mountain range. Thoughts must have raced through Noah’s mind after the ordeal was over: is this going to happen again? What can I do to stop it? However, God made a covenant—a sacred agreement—between He and mankind. God told Noah in Genesis 9:13-15: “I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.” When man saw the rainbow, the result of returned sunlight reflecting off water, he would know that, unlike that great flood years before, God stopped the rain. He keeps His Word. He remembers His covenant.
God still keeps His covenant with man today—and He still gives us rainbows after difficulties. Little reminders He is with us, He is mindful of us and as a result, He will see us through.
When you come through difficult times, look for God’s rainbow. That’s not to say that we always notice them or if we do, that we appreciate them. But they are there. Perhaps it is the rainbow of the good times spent with a loved one who has passed away. Or, perhaps the rainbow of a valuable lesson learned after a difficult mistake. It may be a better appreciation for what health we do have after a time of sickness. Or, even with the prospect of death, there is the rainbow of His presence with us (Psalm 23), and certainly the rainbow of a reward in heaven. These rainbows—small and great— remind us the covenant God has made with those who are His.
The apostle Paul knew just how needed these rainbows were in his life, and he tried to relate their need in the lives of Christians. He stated in Romans 8:29: “For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Then Paul concludes that same inspiring chapter with the following, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 38-39).
He also wrote these words of encouragement in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Through these passages and many others, the Christian is to remember he is in a covenant with God, and God keeps His Word.
So, remember while going through the various hardships of life that after every storm, God always gives a rainbow. (MARK MCCRARY)