A Surprise In The Sky
Genesis 9:8-17 (NLT)
8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
This past weekend my husband and I went on a road trip, to visit his two sisters. It takes approximately eight hours by car from our door to theirs.
As my husband was mapping out our route, he realized that a new highway that had been under construction for quite some time had opened up for traffic. He thought that taking this highway would save us quite a bit of travel time. So we decided to try it out.
The morning that we left it started to rain. It rained and rained, and after driving for about 7 hours in the rain, we finally saw a bit of sunshine for a brief moment. We were not that excited about driving for so long in the nonstop rain, but we were very excited about the new highway. It was all interstate, and it was a straight shot to our destination.
When we got to my husband’s hometown, as always we had a great time. After a couple of days of visiting, it was time to head back home. We got our phone out and got the GPS going again.
Things did not work out so well on our return trip home. Our GPS led us quite a distance from a town that we had planned to drive back through to stop for lunch. We never found the interstate that we came in on. Our GPS was doing some crazy things. It was leading us everywhere except where we wanted to go. As you can imagine, it was frustrating!
After going in a complete circle several times as a result of following our not so trusty GPS, my husband just decided to keep driving. He thought that we would eventually pick up the highway that we came in on, at some point further down the road, but it never happened. We ended up on a very curvy country road that was a scenic route. We drove for over a hundred miles before we could get back to the interstate that would finally lead us home.
Our daughter had heard that there were tornado warnings out for the area that we would be driving through. She called concerned as to our location and wondered when we would be arriving home. Shortly after our daughter’s call, my mother called with the same info. It seemed that everyone was concerned about our safety. As we got closer to home the clouds started to really darken and we could see a storm up ahead. As we drove closer it was clear that this was not just a shower but a storm.
We drove in the storm for quite a few minutes, and then all of a sudden we drove completely out of it. As I looked out of the car window there was an absolutely awesome surprise in the sky. It was by far the most beautiful rainbow that I had ever seen. The colors were captivating and they were so much more vivid than I had ever seen before. These color were not your regular rainbow pastels. The hues were very intense. It was absolutely beautiful and if that wasn’t enough it was a double rainbow. It was so perfectly arched across the sky that it was amazing.
I know that some of you that are reading this are thinking that I had never seen a rainbow before. Trust me, I have seen my fair share of rainbows, but nothing on this side of heaven could ever compare to the beauty that God displayed in the sky that day. This was no ordinary rainbow. It was as though God took a paintbrush and painted the sky. As I brought the rainbow to my husband’s attention, tears started to well up in my eyes just at the thought of how awesome our God is and how when we least expect it, He reveals yet once again how powerful He is, and that we can always trust that he keeps His promises. I was literally crying tears of joy.
I looked at my husband and asked him how could anyone possibly look at the sky that day and believe that there is no God. He is a master artist and His creation confirms how powerful and awesome He is. It also confirms, without a doubt that God does exist.
My mind went to Noah and the covenant that God made with him, that He would never destroy the earth with a flood again. My heart could only be grateful as I thought of how faithful our God is to His promises and how the rainbow also speaks to how merciful He is.
I had complained several times to my husband, about how I hoped that we would never make the mistake of coming back home on that little curvy road again. I was just not enjoying the 35 to 45 mile per hour speed limit at all. When he saw the rainbow he said “see if we hadn’t come this way you would have never seen this rainbow. At that moment I was reminded that God works all things out for good and that there are no coincidences.
During this past weekend, we drove over a thousand miles and 90% of the time we were driving in rain. I must say that seeing the rainbow at the end of our trip made it all worthwhile.
I was reminded that God is still in control and that when He changes our planned course, He also may be changing the very trajectory of our lives. Maybe we should just trust that there are times when things happen for reasons that we may not understand until later down the road. There may very well be a blessing in the change.
The next time that you are privileged to witness a rainbow, please don’t take it for granted. It is another one of God’s miracles. As you gaze at its beauty, remember that God is a promise keeper and for this reason along with thousands of others He is so worthy to be praised! I challenge you today and always to remain in awe of the beautiful things that God does all around us daily. Don’t get so caught up on the next thing to do on your list, that you miss your “Surprise In The Sky”.
Deuteronomy 7:9 (NLT)
9 Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his
covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLT)
22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends![a]His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
