Many years ago, I was preparing for an event which would be attended by several of my closest friends. To honor them, I prepared brief biographies on each of them, recounting specific shared events which endeared them to me. As I did this, butterflies went through my stomach as I relived the pleasant memories. I only remembered the good times and the promise of seeing each of them once again to create new memories.
Isn’t this how our relationship with God develops? The more time we spend thinking about God and the experiences we have shared, the more our longing for him increases. There are many ways we experience God’s love. We experience it through our relationships with friends and family. We experience it through life experiences in our schooling and jobs. And we experience it in the grandeur of His creation. In fact, there is one special reminder that God has given us of Himself and His promises that we may literally see everyday. It is the sign that God gave to us after He delivered Noah and his family from the flood.
Can you imagine how Noah felt when he and his family finally left the ark? Everyone they had known had perished in the flood. The entire world looked different. They were commanded by God to repopulate the earth through their family and all the animals they carried with them. There surely must have been some doubt in their minds. What if God destroys the world again? What reassurance could they have that God would care for them as He did in the past?
I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Genesis 9:13-15 (NASB)
Did you catch that? The rainbow reminds us of God’s promise to never destroy this world with a flood, but it also reminds God of His covenant promise between Himself and His creation. Does this mean God forgets? Does He need reminders? No. The Bible is simply acknowledging that God will share the same thoughts that we do when He looks at the rainbow. God is reassuring us that He keeps His promises.
When I see a rainbow, I look forward to my next encounter with God and how He will create new memories. Like my friends, it is built upon our previous shared experiences. The wonderful Truth is that God also thinks about us in the same manner. He shares our same memories and desires to create more with us!
“For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)
God has plans to prosper us, not to harm us. When I think upon God, all He wants me to remember are the good times we have shared and the promise and assurance that even greater joy is waiting.
Praise God!
Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.
The Bereans Blog 