Noah's Rainbow - the promise of hope

Tomorrow's Old Testament lesson is about the end of one of the most harrowing,uncertain and terrible 150 days in the history of the world. (roughly Genesis chapters 6-9) I can barely attempt to imagine the emotions that Noah and family went through as they built the infamous 'ark' and boarded it with all those critters, knowing all the while the fate of the rest of the world - their extended families, friends, neighbors... everyone and everything!

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I wrote a while back about the mouse crossing the road, and how scary and treacherous that experience must be - for a mouse or for a man - and there are men (and women) living that experience all around, believe me.

Personally, I've not yet been asked to endure such things.
But I have been privy to observe the resolve that is given by the LORD to those who have been!

Its impossible to apply logic to tragedy.
The explanation for grief is too simple to be satisfactory.
A 'bad' thing cannot be justified, no matter how thick the silver lining.

But at the end of the floodwaters' rage -
near the moment of utter despair -
...there comes the Rainbow, a promise of hope!

It isn't merely a pretty thing that is made from the refraction of the Sun's light; the scientific understanding of God's rainbow could never compare to the fact that with it God has attached a promise - a covenant declaring that He would never again do as He (justly) did in Noah's day.

This leaves us the opportunity to revel in God's other promise...
...that He would save us from the terrible sin which we'd brought into this world.

The sin that brings despair.
The sin that causes hurt.
The sin that makes our bodies maliciously impair themselves.
The sin that would otherwise cause not only our earthly deaths, but keep us that way forever.

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The rainbow promises hope through sustenance and opportunity.
The Cross of Christ promises salvation through the perfect blood of God's Son.



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