A Rainbow’s Promise
Today’s scripture selection: Genesis 8-11
Key verse: Genesis 9:12-16
Promises are important things. From our youngest days we understand that. Friends keep promises; enemies don’t. Marriages are built on them; divorces happen because they are ignored. Promises are just one way that we become people of integrity – people others can count on. Keep your promises, big and small, and soon those around you will understand that you are “trust worthy.” Break a few, and you will soon find yourself to be in a very lonely and hostile world.
God keeps His promises. That’s one of the great truths of the Bible. In stark contrast to the many stories of how people fail one another, and themselves; God is consistently there keeping His word. Sometimes that means there is punishment for sin. A holy and righteous God can do no other than respond when His holy and righteous laws have been ignored or abused. But other times, God keeps His promises in other ways. He reaches out to us time and again with love. He offers us a way out of the corner into which we have foolishly painted ourselves. He gives us hope – because He promised us He would never leave us or forsake us.
That’s why rainbows are more than just scientific phenomena or a little decoration in the sky after a storm. According to Genesis, the rainbow is a sign – and important one. Every time you see those colors paint the sky, you can be assured that a loving and forgiving God is there. Faint or brilliant, the message is always the same. The God of new beginnings and fresh starts is offering you one. And that gives us hope.
People sometimes keep their promises. And unfortunately, a lot of times, they don’t. But God always keep His promises. The Bible uses a fancy word for that. It’s covenant. God keeps his everlasting covenant time and again:
“I will be their God and they will be my people.”
Aren’t you glad that in a world that is so uncertain – God is so trustworthy?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the rainbows in my life. Help me to be trustworthy in all I say and all I do, just as you are. AMEN.
