“Whenever I bring
clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my
covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again
will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.”- Genesis 9:14-15
I was sitting in my church’s Parking lot the other day,
basically looking at my phone trying to find the podcast I was going to listen
to and checking if I had an important Facebook message, when I felt the urge to
look up.
Perhaps it was more of the fact my neck was sore while
looking down at my phone than me really getting an urge to look up, but I felt
the need to look up regardless.
Anyway, when I glanced to my right, I saw a rainbow. It was
incredible. It wasn’t merely the fact that it was a rainbow that made it
incredible, but the placement of the rainbow.
Sitting to the left of the church is an older building.
Somebody recently replaced the windows, but prior to the windows being put in,
there were wooden covers over every window space. The craftsmanship on the
building is aged, but is still a building worth looking at. I am looking forward
to what it will look like after the restoration process is completed.
In between our church and that building is an alleyway that
consists of a dumpster, potholes, loose gravel, and the back wall of the older
building with spray paint and “graffiti” (It’s not like urban graffiti, there’s
no art to it and primarily poor grammar). It is not the prettiest sight, but
something to look at nonetheless.
Then, there’s our church building. According to the
cornerstone on the church, this brick building has been in place since 1904.
There is a newer addition on the building, but the original structure was put
in place in 1904. There is a large amount of colorful stained glass with images
of Christ, holy symbols, and more. It is a wonderful building with great
history.
Now, let’s get back to the rainbow and its placement. When I
decided to look up, the rainbow was not shaped in a marvelous arch revealing
God’s message of hope and restoration to the masses over the buildings. It was
peeking through the crack of space between the old building on the corner, over
the alley way, and disappearing behind the church. It was a small glimpse of
something so large and beautiful, that I most likely would have missed if I
would have stayed focus on my tiny handheld device.
However, even more importantly, it arched over the dirtiest
section of the scene. The largest part of the rainbow was visible through the
alley. Isn’t that an awesome thought?
We can all focus on the littlest things so much in our
lives. The smallest struggle or difficult situation can cause us to stare at
our feet. We can look at a pothole infested, graffiti covered, loose gravel
kind of experience and focus so much on that, which in turn hinders us from
seeing something so much bigger and more beautiful.
When we allow ourselves to focus on the hole in our shoe,
the missing money in our wallet, the stubbed toe or broken foot, and anything
else that could cause us to be distracted from the rainbow that is shining
right above us, then we miss God’s promise.
God placed the rainbow to remind us of His promise. His
promise that He would never use the waters to destroy all life is everlasting.
In fact, I wonder if when Jesus calmed the storms with His disciples freaking
out in the boat, He wasn’t trying to get them to remember the promise God gave
to Noah.
I wonder how many times we get distracted by the puddles and
we miss God saying “Look up!”?
May we focus on the One who made a promise to keep His
creation safe. May we look up when things look desolate at our feet. May we
remember there is so much more when we focus on the Creator of it all!
Question: What is one
way you can focus on God’s promises today?
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