TRACING THE RAINBOW THROUGH THE RAIN

"I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth." (Genesis 9:13 HCSB)

The rainbow requires the rain.

Rainbows are naturally occurring phenomena, as sun shines through drops of water in the atmosphere, which function as a prism, breaking down the light spectrum into the beautiful, multi-colored hues. It would seem that Noah and his family saw the first rainbow, since it was likely it had never rained before! God designed a "sprinkler system" that made earth a lush paradise when He fashioned the world. "No shrub of the field had yet [grown] on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. But water would come out of the ground and water the entire surface of the land." (Genesis 2:5, 6 HCSB) God broke up this gardening marvel, unleashing the vast reservoirs of subterranean water, which was as much responsible for the flood as the deluge that poured down from the sky, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the watery depths burst open, the floodgates of the sky were opened" (Genesis 7:11 HCSB).

When Noah emerged from the ark, God revealed the rainbow as a symbol of His faithful love--His covenant of grace--the promise to never send a global flood again. But, the rainbow required the rain.

So, are you in a storm in your life today? Maybe the winds are strong and the waves are surging. Adversity, affliction, antagonism--other difficult circumstances--are surrounding you. We wish the storm would have never come. Why did God allow it?

God didn't prevent Noah from experiencing the storm, but preserved him through the storm! A person of faith--and Noah was a great and godly man--isn't granted immunity from storms. The difference is that the same circumstances that drowned the sinners, delivered the saints. The wicked went under the same flood that lifted up the ark!

If God brought you to it, He will bring you through it. Rainbows require rain--but they also demand something else--sunshine on the other side! God is faithful to His promise. In the dark days, wait on Him, secure in His love. You may be shut into a tempestuous time, but you are shut up in Christ--our ark of safety. He has a purpose. The storm which rose so suddenly will one day be over. The peals of thunder will be replaced by the singing of birds! May God give us eyes of faith to trace the rainbow through the rain.