I have nothing deep today. (I’m also a day late, but we won’t discuss that.) Instead, I have a picture to go with the verse that spoke to me in Genesis 9.
Genesis 9: 12-16 (GWT)–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: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 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. 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.”
Where I live, rainbows are not rare occurrences. They are not daily occurrences by any means, but to see two or three dim ones a year is not unheard of. Still, to see something like this photo makes my knees weak with awe at God:
Last April, that was the view from my back deck. If you walked onto my front porch, you saw the other end, clear as could be, visible even through the trees. You can see it if you look on this photo as well. It was so close we could touch it. It lasted half an hour. Little girl and I could not stop looking at it. Even better, it was visible to our friends fifteen miles away and possibly even further than that. A perfectly arced, clearly visible, incredibly lasting double rainbow.
A double rainbow one year after large chunks of Middle Tennessee lay under unprecedented floodwaters.
A double rainbow after months of crazy snow and even stranger tornado warnings.
A double rainbow after the storm of a very long season in our lives.
Oh, how I needed to know that God is God and is still and always there. His promise, His reminder. It was like a love letter painted across the sky. Even now, it brings tears to my eyes.
Every time I read Genesis 9 and every time I see a rainbow, I am struck by God’s truth and His promises, His existence and His eternity, His faithfulness and His love.
Oh, He is so good. So, so very good.
-JB
Sandy Rosser says
This was my favorite verse! We saw a rainbow in the backyard the day we found out we could Martin and Steven. I don’t know how many rainbows we saw during Kelly’s stay at Chapel Hill. We had large windows to look out onto the campus and a wide view of the sky. It is always good to remember the promise of a rainbow.
Sandy
P.S. It doesn’t matter that you’re a day late. It was worth the wait.
Jodie says
Thanks! I love His reminders, even in our individual storms.
Dawn Lucowitz says
I was really going to try to write about something other than a rainbow from this chapter, but seriously, how is that possible? I love that God didn’t just make a promise, but he sent us a visible reminder. I have always felt closest to God and seen and felt his love the strongest when I am outside marveling at all he has created. Whether it is at night when I’m out with my dog looking at the stars, or when I’m running in the morning and watching His sun rise, or even running later in the day admiring at all the colors in the day.
How awesome is a rainbow? When do we most need to be reminded of God and His love? For me it’s throughout the storms in my life; while I’m facing a trial or have just experienced some kind of earthly devastation. Our God is so faithful and is always there, but the fact that he sends that visible reminder is AWESOME! He takes that doubting faith sometimes and says, “you want proof? Here you go, I’m here.”
Jodie says
It’s kind of hard to ignore the rainbow, huh? It’s one of the coolest things–outside of Jesus–in the Bible, I think.