The Rainbow

The Rainbow

The rainbow is a sign of Promise.

It is a sign of hope and a future.

A sign seen by Noah and his family.

But a sign you and I can see.

The rainbow is a sign to all generations.

Let’s accept and believe in His promises.

 

The following is an inspiring youtube video

"Some Where Over the Rainbow"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZPGH1yMqA

Many do not believe that God causes calamities.

That a God of Love,

the Author of Life,

could cause death and destruction.

But we all would agree,

He does allow storms and destruction.

Fear can grip our hearts

when we hear of a hurricane

or tornado coming our way.

None of us alive on 9/11/2001,

will ever forget the terror that struck our hearts.

Noah and his family must have had

some of these same fears and insecurities.

They have just witnessed the death of every man,

woman and child living on the face of the earth.

They were the only survivors faced with starting all over.

But, God makes a promise!

God gives hope

when He promises.

Genesis 8:21-22 NIV

"Never again will I curse the ground because of man,

even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.

And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”

 "As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest,

cold and heat, summer and winter,

day and night will never cease." 

As you and I face the seasons of life,

we, too, can count on the promises of God.

Noah did not have a promise

that there would not be any more calamities,

and neither do we. 

But we do have the promise

from Jesus Christ, Himself, who said,

 “In this world you will have trouble

but be of good cheer I have overcome the world.”

There are many wonderful promises God gives us;

and there are many good sounding ideas

that people come up with.

The promises of God you can count on;

but the good sounding ideas can leave you disillusioned.

God revealed His promise to Noah

after he worshiped God with a sacrifice.

You and I can also find God’s comfort

when we worship Him through the storms of our lives.

In those times of worship,

He will reveal His promises of love

and help you to see that this season

in your life will also pass.

Giving you hope to prepare

for the next season.

Your season of winter will pass

and your season of planting

and harvest will come.

Remember His promises with thanksgiving

the next time you see a rainbow.

Scripture Reading

Genesis 8:1-22 NIV

8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed,

and the rain had stopped falling from the sky.

3 The water receded steadily from the earth.

At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month,

and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

6 After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.

8 Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water

over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark.

He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.

10 He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.

11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. 12 He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year,

the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering

from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.

14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

15 Then God said to Noah,

16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives.

17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you

— the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground

— so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives.

19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds

— everything that moves on the earth

— came out of the ark, one kind after another.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and,

taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart:

"Never again will I curse the ground because of man,

even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.

And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat, summer and winter,

day and night will never cease."

Genesis 9:1-17 NIV

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them,

"Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth

and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground,

and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.

3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you.

Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.

I will demand an accounting from every animal.

And from each man, too,

I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed;

for in the image of God

has God made man.

7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number;

multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you

10 and with every living creature that was with you — the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you — every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you:   Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

12 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:

13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds,

and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 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.

16 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."

17 So God said to Noah,

"This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me

and all life on the earth."