The Rainbow Came After the Water
- Heidi Eva Jones
- Nov 22, 2022
- 6 min read
Volume 11 Issue 6
Greeting in His Name,
I love to see a rainbow at the end of a GOoD shower. The earth has been washed, the smell is different and then there are those times when we can look up and see a promise that God made to man long ago. A promise that we know the meaning of when we see the bow in the clouds. God has not left mankind to fend for ourselves, all we need to do is look up and know that God keep His promises. Today's blog is entitled The Rainbow Came After the Water. Hope you find some inspiration, conviction, and queries.
shalom and love,
heidi
After I looked at the title, I decided to re-state it as the rainbow came after the rain because it seemed catchier and more logical. But when I researched the scripture we are focusing on today, I thought it was stated just as it should be: the rainbow came after the water. Water is always seen as a refreshing cleaning agent. We can find H2O in almost everything - cleaning products, foods, making most machinery, and mechanics. Water is essential. Even our bodies are made up of water, and we need a daily dose so that our natural mechanics can function properly. Sadly, we often neglect our bodies of this most natural commodity.
For today we want to look at Noah and his experience with God. But before we tune into Noah, let's go back to what brought us to this point of God sending enough water to cause a flood. Genesis opens with the beautiful story of creation and all the hopes of a future people in constant contact with God. But we all know that the picture changes after sin enter the relationship, and man's knowledge of his free will is more open to him. From this point on, we see disaster after disaster. We see the repercussions of our sin: back-breaking work instead of daily paradise and hard labor to bring forth fruit from the woman's womb. We witness the first murder and, sadly, the separation of a family. But out of all of this, God saw Noah. Genesis 6:7-8 KJV And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
God grew weary with His creation. Their disobedience only worsened as time passed, which made me think about God looking into the world today. I know His eyes must be stained with tears because we still haven't got it. When we see man continuously adhering to the ways of the world, murdering our fellow brothers, abusing children and the elderly, committing fraudulent acts like Ponzi schemes, robbing, stealing, identity theft. No stick and stay marriages, and shacking like we ARE MARRIED, woman and men leaving the natural use of their bodies and dibbling and dabbling in vile affection (Romans 1:26), preachers engaging in spiritual and physical whoremongering, and last but not least, wishy-washy Christians. Do I sound like I'm mad? I'm not. But God is! And you who may be saying, "no, not me," don't excuse yourself too quickly. I might not have touched your sin, but it all stinks in His nostrils. I believe God is mad that we are not allowing ourselves to fully experience His blessedness because of our mess. If Noah found grace/favor in the eyes of God, I know that we can too. The scripture says we are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:5). God knows we can't do it on our own, 'live right,' so He sent Jesus. He can see the report of our forefathers and say, "What will the future generations that will not see Me in the natural do if those who had eyewitness accounts still stumbled? What will they do?" God had to send the water.
Genesis 9:11 KJV And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. Look at the chapter and verse 9:11. This was an emergency clean-up. This was an example to me that God will send punishment if we don't adhere to His Word, His command. The people of Noah's day probably thought that the water would not come, let alone a flood of the magnitude that it was. But we are the same. We don't believe the fire is coming. Do you know why I say that? Because our lives often reflect an attitude that we'll just slide through to heaven. We think I can just live my life like I want and hit a home run into heaven. All the while, God is saying you are killing Me as your forefathers killed the prophets.
Genesis 9:12-13 KJV And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Look at God still trying to save man, land, and beast. Genesis 9:14-15 KJV And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall 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 the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. Looking back at Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and some other floods, some may say, "How can we say a flood has not destroyed?" But looking at the Word closely, God spoke to destroy ALL flesh. Yes, the land is crying out with record numbers of natural disasters: severe heat, severe cold, tornadoes, drought, earthquakes, and floods, all bringing discomfort to our once somewhat comfortable world. But God says I still won't allow complete destruction. The bow in the cloud is a promise of one natural disaster to not entirely snuff us out, but what about us snuffing ourselves out because we fail to love and respect one another. The Hebrew word (qeshet) typically refers to a warrior's bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. (NetBible) God's peace was short-lived because if you read on, Noah began drinking heavily, cursed one of his sons, and the vicious cycle of sin started again.
Genesis 9:16 KJV And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. Even today, after a shower, when the rainbow appears, we know God is looking. Despite the story of Noah, when I see a rainbow, I see hope and a promise from a God who will neither leave nor forsake us. All God wants is an everlasting covenant with us. He will no longer destroy the earth with a flood but know that the day will come when a fire will.
Some people see a rainbow and think of a Leprechaun with a pot of gold at the end of it. But that's really only a myth. Years ago, I received a little revelation from an associate watching one of those then-so-popular gold commercials. His comments made me look at the word 'gold' differently. I can't remember everything that God revealed to him, but one of the things that stood out to me was to see God in the Word gold, G-O-L-D. I believe God to be golden. The ray of light that will permeate from Him will be warm and golden. After he shared that revelation, I commenced finding scriptures. One of them was Exodus 25:17 KJV, And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. God's seat on top of the ark was gold. A sign of His strength and power. God met and communed with His people from the mercy seat. Gold is the highest, most precious metal. Gold also represents the divine nature, which is the highest and the only nature having immortality. So, water came to cleanse the earth of impurities that man had allowed through his sin to enter the world. The rainbow came as a promise of peace, but if we wanted to add the pot of gold at the end, we could because God is in the GOLD.
LIFE QUOTE
“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
-Alexander Graham Bell
Let Us Laugh!
What's loved by Noah and also most meat-eaters? Ham.
Hope to see you Next Month.... : ) I mean in a few days
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