The Rainbow Promise
In the biblical account following the flood, we have the following promise: "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." — Genesis 9:11 NASV
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary has the following to say about the rainbow:
The rainbow appears when we have most reason to fear the rain prevailing; God then shows this seal of the promise, that it shall not prevail. The thicker the cloud, the brighter the bow in the cloud. Thus, as threatening afflictions abound, encouraging consolations much more abound.
I don't believe that I thought about this until right now, but in order for Noah to have seen the rainbow in the cloud, it must have been raining at the time. It is interesting to think what might have been going through his mind. After spending more than a year aboard the ark he and his family must have been glad to set their feet on solid ground. Noah offered a sacrifice of gratitude to God for saving him and his family. God spoke to Noah, and at some point, we can guess that it started raining. Was Noah thinking, "Oh no! Here we go again"? If he was thinking this, he must have been relieved by God's promise that the earth would never again be destroyed by a flood.
Matthew Henry's comments suggest that God's rainbow covenant might apply in a symbolic way to other kinds of floods: not just literal water covering literal earth. Might this apply as well to times in our lives when the waters of sorrow are rising? Can we be assured that we will not be destroyed in this flood? There may be times when I am willing to take a guess about things, but when it comes to God's promises I like to be sure. In searching for an answer to this question, I came across Isaiah 43:2, which says:
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flame burn you.
Just as God did not promise the absence of rain in Genesis, He did not promise the absence of sorrow. In both cases, however, He set a limit. Just as the earth will never again be covered by water, we will never be completely covered by the "deep waters" that we go through.
Some time ago, I was talking to a friend about the rainbow covenant. There is something interesting to me about what it takes for the formation of a rainbow, and how that can be applied to our understanding of God's promises in our life.
First, let's look at the fact that the total absence of water can be just as fatal as an overabundance of water. A person who dies from dehydration is just as dead as a drowning victim. It is God's mercy that keeps sunshine and rain in balance for us, in both a physical and spiritual sense. Too much of either sunshine or rain will kill us.
Isn't it interesting that the rainbow appears only when the conditions of sunlight and rain are present in the right configuration? It is almost as if God is reminding us that He is merciful. He tells us that the light of the sun will always be present, but also that this light will be tempered by nourishing rains as well.
God's rainbow is not always visible, but the covenant that it represents always stands. In the same way, His tokens of mercy may not always be apparent. If we are to accept God's promises at such times, we must accept them by faith, and not by sight.
In a physical sense, all the colors of the rainbow exist all the time in the sunlight that surrounds us. The colors combine to create light that has the appearance of being colorless. The fact that we can't see these colors doesn't mean that they are not there. On a day that is filled with sunshine, this absence of colors doesn't seem so bad, but when the weather is overcast with heavy clouds our eyes take in a landscape that is dull. Even in this environment, though, the colors of the rainbow are still hidden in the light that has been muted by these clouds.
In the same way, we can forget about our need for God's mercy when our lives seem bright, and we can be tempted to doubt His mercy when our lives seem gray. In both cases, we lack the visual representation of His covenant. It is only occasionally that we are given a glimpse of the colors of the rainbow that promises that "the rivers will not overflow [us]". Let us remember that the time that we are most likely to see this rainbow is a time that is somewhere between sunshine and rain.
What kind of practical application is there to this train of thought? To me, it is a reminder that most of our lives consist of walking by faith, and not by sight. Walking consists of taking a step with your right foot, and then another with your left, and then repeating the process. God's promise is ALWAYS present, just like the colors of the rainbow are always present in light. Every once in a while, God will allow us to take a few steps with the rainbow in view, and when He does, we must treasure the sight, and allow it to give us courage to continue our walk when we can no longer see it.
Trust God. He is faithful.
