This rainbow appeared last Tuesday afternoon for just a few minutes. You can barely see a second bow arching over the prominent one. If there is a natural phenomenon that fills me with wonder, this is it. The photo location is near downtown, Johnson City, Tennessee, and the building is where the Central Baptist Church congregation meets.
I’ve titled this picture Symbols of Hope and Promise.
What does a rainbow say about God?
In Genesis, God said that when He sees a rainbow, He remembers His covenant that He will never destroy the earth again with a global flood. It is a promise that He has kept. Now, when I see a rainbow, I remember that God is faithful and indeed keeps all His promises. I feel peace and relief when I consider my forgiven sin because I put my faith in Jesus, God’s Son. I will have eternal life because of His promise.
Another thought that comes to mind is about how powerful God is. No invention of man holds a candle to the wonder of rainbows. What do we have that creates arches of colored light, breaking out all spectral colors, on the scale of a rainbow? How about those double rainbows? Yet rainbows occur all over the Earth, every day.
God makes beautiful things. Creation persists in natural beauty in spite of the efforts of fallen men and demonic powers to destroy it.
The Lord is lord of all natural phenomena. When He created light and water, He knew that there would be refractive properties in water that, when falling through sunlight as rain, would present spectacular rainbows. He even knew that we would enjoy them. Remember that next time you think He is some old gray man sitting up in the clouds. Jesus, being Lord of all, means He is Lord of physics and chemistry too.
I believe God enjoys surprising us at unexpected times; you never know when the right elements will come together to paint the sky in brilliant color. Each rainbow is a gift and an opportunity to praise God.
Finally, I can’t help but think about how God provides when I see a rainbow. Usually, a rain has just passed, and we are grateful for rain. Rain sustains forests, makes farms grow, and preserves our water table. Water sustains life, and God knows that. He cares for us.
Thank you, Father, for showing us another rainbow and reminding us of your awesome, mighty works.