Rainbows

The first picture is from FL - my mom saw it the day my Grandpa died. The second I took yesterday, the day of his memorial service, outside my window in qville.

“And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” Genesis 9:11-17

Yesterday we had a major thunderstorm. It was glorious. My roommate and I went out to do some errands when the rain had let up a little (so we thought). When we were wrapping things up at the market the heavens broke loose again and we ended up being soaked. Respectable women don’t run in the street, but once we were ‘round the corner to our small street I ran and twirled in my balto and flip flops and of course stuck my tongue out to feel the drops landing in my mouth. Once inside our gate and completely out of public view, I splashed in the huge puddles we have to wade through to get to our front door. After we were inside I looked out our living room window at the beautiful mountains only to discover a rainbow - a full arch all the way across the sky. Beautiful.

Rainbows are pretty incredible in that they appear with the rain. Noah didn’t need a rainbow on a sunny day to remind him that God is faithful to keep his promise not to destroy everything with a flood. But you better believe when it started pouring Noah took comfort in that bow across the clouds! It was a pretty amazing reminder to me that He provides the grace and reassurance where and when I need it. Yesterday was pretty rough not being home as my family gathered together and I was here feeling very far away. The gift of a gorgeous FL summeresque thunderstorm to play in for a few minutes and a rainbow too was a wonderful reminder of the joy to be found in the midst of trial and His faithfulness. I know that He is the lifter of my head and the God of endurance and encouragement.

Also, right before these verses and in only the 9th chapter of Genesis you already see the importance of blood being required to compensate for death. So from Adam and Eve being covered with the skin of an animal that God kills to cover their shame to this story to the whole sacrifice system and so many other places we see the plan for Jesus being revealed. Wow – what significance a rainbow has now – an ETERNAL covenant, and back to Jeremiah 33 we go. And if my OT scholars have any say I’m sure there will be more when they teach me about rainbows, clouds, rain and Noah.