God Remembers

About 11 years ago a video went viral of a man in Yosemite cheering and weeping over a "double-rainbow" before him in the valley.  Amid the awe and wonder (perhaps heightened by chemicals) the fellow asked, "What does it mean?"  The man recognised the beauty of colour, design and symmetry, and for the question he asked the Bible provides the answer.  It is more than a natural phenomenon explained scientifically but proof of a Creator with a distinct purpose in mind.

After God judged the world with a great flood of water, He remembered Noah and his family and made a covenant with them and the earth.  Genesis 9:12-16 reads, "And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

Growing up, whenever there was a visible rainbow we brought it to the attention of the whole family.  I remember many times my mum saying something like, "Hey kids!  Come quick and look!  A rainbow!"  My brother, sister and I would run over the window or go outside to see the rainbow for ourselves.  I love how God says He looks upon the rainbow and remembers the promise He has made between Himself and every creature of the earth.  There have been many floods since that day long ago, but none that brought global destruction and death.  Rainbows are not always visible to us, but when they are they have been set there by God and He created and sustained us to see them.  The birds and beasts do not notice the rainbow, but people made in the image of God do--and cheer over the beauty without realising the divine message and promise behind it.

Whether a rainbow is seen in the cloud, over a scenic valley, from the mist of a garden hose or in the refraction of a prism, it is a reminder for me of God's promise He looks upon and is faithful to keep.  White light from the sun is a combination of the whole visible spectrum of light, and a rainbow is when the different wavelengths of light are divided so each can be seen individually.  So it is with the truth of God's word:  the more we read, listen and consider, the more we see and appreciate the beauty of our LORD and His goodness to us all.  He is the source of all that is beautiful, and He gives us the capacity to rest in awe of His glory.