I love watching rainbows.  Whenever one appears in the eastern sky after a rain shower, I am mesmerized by the arch of colors floating on the grayish-blue sky.  I stare and I can't help but think how amazing the Master Painter must be to create beauty like that for us to see.

Probably a lot of us take these simple wonders for granted, though.  Maybe we become so wrapped up in our daily lives that we don't even think twice about a rainbow appearing before our eyes.  Maybe not everyone is not as impressed by their magnificence as I am.  But I bet Noah found his rainbow pretty amazing.

Noah and his family had just exited the massive wooden boat which had been their home during the world's first - and longest - rainstorm.  God gathered the earth's only citizens together and gave them their instructions.  In the Lord's conclusion, He made a promise that He would never again bring "a flood to destroy the earth" (Gen. 9:11).  One interesting thing to note is the field of recipients that God declared would receive this promise.  He offered the covenant to Noah, his family, and the "seed after" Noah.  By my quick calculation, that would include you and me!  He might as well have mentioned us by name!

As if a promise from God weren't reassuring enough, He also placed a token, a "reminder" for Himself, of the covenant that He gave to Noah and all his descendents.  In what must have been a jaw-dropping experience for Noah and his kin, God placed His "signature" of the promise in the sky in the form of presumably the earth's first rainbow.  We can only imagine the bewilderment of Noah's group as they watched the spectrum of colors unfold in front of them.  Undoubtedly, the colors of this first rainbow were richer and deeper than our polluted atmosphere might allow today.

Then, God added that "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 . . . that is upon the earth" (v. 16).

That means that the agreement is still in tact today, and we can still witness rainbows as a symbol of God's mercy in promising that no matter how badly we treated Him and each other, He would not destroy the people of earth with a flood again.  In fact, His love and mercy ran so deep that He opted to sacrifice His Son, rather than again destroy the wicked people of earth.

Maybe you've read and seen the story of "Noah and the Ark" in all kinds of movies and Sunday school classes.  But read God's covenant with Noah again and praise God the next time you see a rainbow, God's "sigature" in the sky.  Be amazed at His awesome beauty and thank Him for His unyielding love and mercy!