God always keeps His promises

Today I saw a rainbow.

I am utterly fascinated by a rainbow. The translucent colors. The arc. The brilliance. Most of all, the promise of a rainbow.

There was a time when God was not keen over the condition of the world. In fact, it was at its worst at that point. Immorality, I imagine, was at its peak. Idolatry was no doubt running rampant. Theft, murder, dishonesty, and more were most likely at an all time high. But there was one little man who God saw through heaven’s telescope that was different. I imagine, a quiet man who kept to his own but was not afraid to stand for truth and righteousness. A man whom God found favor with and therefore, became chosen to do a unique task. He was chosen to build an ark.

So he did. Somehow in his utmost faith, I imagine somewhere, on some day as he pounded stakes into holed to hold things together, something told him he was crazy. And yet he pounded and believed, had unfaltering faith and hung onto hope. Crazy or not, he had heard a Voice tell Him to do something incredible. It wasn’t a question of ‘will you’. It wasn’t an option of ‘are you interested’. It was a command to just do it. ‘Build an ark’. Instructions followed and Noah began the overwhelming and daunting task of building the biggest boat known to mankind up to that day.

And so he obeyed and built an ark. A big cruise liner for every species of animal known to mankind. They would not have to forage for food for the next 40 plus days. It would be brought to them on a silver platter (okay, so maybe it was a gopher wood platter) as they laid back and took it easy for the next two months or so.

And while Noah and his family catered to their traveling zoo, it rained and it poured and it didn’t stop for forty days and forty nights.

I imagine it was a bittersweet time. Noah undoubtedly had closed the doors to the ark to the ridicule and mockery of the world, but he also closed the doors to people who were also his friends. Sailing on his vessel most likely gave him a lot of time to think of who was left behind to drown in a sea of regret. Friends, extended family members. I am certain if Noah was who God thought he was, he had compassion for these people, even if they weren’t the cream of the crop.

I’m sure Mrs. Noah had the same thoughts. She probably cried for her fellow quilting bee partners. She probably wept for her aunts and uncles, nieces, nephews. There would be no more family reunions, women’s weekly Bible studies, or gatherings of teaching the younger women how to prepare for marriage. Those days were gone and new days were to come.

Bittersweet.

And so it rained and it rained and it rained and after forty long days, it quit. Can you imagine what Noah and his family thought at that moment? God promised it would rain for forty days and forty nights. They were probably gathered around the hay bale eating breakfast and stopped chewing and looked at each other in wonderment. It had stopped. The rain had stopped. The pitter-patter of raindrops that pelted non-stop against their vessel for the last forty days had stopped. Just like that.

I cannot imagine what must have gone through their minds, but I’m sure excitement was in the midst, somewhere. They probably jumped up and ran to the poop deck. It was true. The rain had stopped and the clouds were dissipating as quickly as they had gathered weeds before. God had kept his promise. Not only had it poured buckets upon this little family’s life, but after forty days, it had stopped just as amazingly as it had started.

In the excitement, I’m sure Noah must have said, “Oh, wait – the dove – I’ve got to get the dove.” And so the dove was sent out and returned empty handed. No land. Repeating the process every day or so, it finally returned one day with an olive branch in it’s mouth. More excitement. Land was breaking forth the tides of the storm that had held them bound in the traveling zoo. Soon they would be grounded and able to exit and loose the animals back onto the earth.

In all the activity that was taking place, something else happened. Something magnificent. Something never evidenced before. The Noah family, standing on deck – a parrot perched on Shem’s shoulder, a monkey sitting on Noah’s, a snake coiled around Ham’s arm – stood wide-eyed with their mouths open. Never had they seen anything so beautiful before. (Obvious paraphrasing going on…)

There in front of them, spread across the entire sky draped an arc of brilliant colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue. They were awestruck. Before them, stretched from one end of the earth to the other was a magnificent rainbow.

And God said, “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.”

When God approached Noah in his vineyard many months prior to this moment, He made a promise that He was going to send rain to flood the earth. He promised to save Noah and his family by way of an ark. He promised it would rain forty days and nights. There was a promise in that promise that it would not last forever. And now, Noah and his family stood gazing upon that rainbow and God made another promise. To never do that again. He would never send another flood to destroy the earth.

Noah could believe God. Noah’s faith was strong. He had watched God make promises in the past and he had watched God keep each one. He knew that God would keep this promise.

Today I saw a rainbow with brilliant color so red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. It was absolutely beautiful. And when I saw it, I smiled. There were dark clouds with windows of blue sky. And then there was the rainbow.

I remembered what the promise of the rainbow was and how God has kept his promise. And each time I see a rainbow I remember how God keeps all of his promises. And it makes me smile. And it renews my hope and I am encouraged and reminded that even on the darkest of days, God will be there because God always keeps His promises.

That’s the promise of a rainbow.