AT THE END OF THE STORM, THERE SHALL BE A SIGN.
“And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow 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; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth". Genesis 9:12-17 NKJV
There are so many stories in the Bible of people who faced overwhelming odds and great struggles and yet through their faith they held on to hope and came out victorious to experience a meaningful life. The hard times in life seem to come when we least expect it.
We all entered “2020” with so much joy, hope and aspirations, little did we know that we will be faced with unprecedented times such as Covid-19. This is exactly what happened to Noah.
Noah obeyed God and built the ark, but even then he still couldn’t do anything to stop the storm. He also didn’t do anything to cause storm, but it rained, nonetheless and it rained hard. I believe as you and I go through life we’re often reminded that we are not really in control. The storms and the rains will come but we can’t stop them. We didn’t cause it and it really isn’t our fault, but those storms come anyway. There are times when all we can do is listen for God to speak and know that He is with us through the storm.
The storms don’t have to destroy us.
We do still have the power to choose how we react to the storm. Will we grow and learn something from the storm or will we choose to become angry, bitter and depressed because it’s not fair? Forty days and forty nights must have seemed like forever with all that rain, lightning and thunder! Even though it stopped raining, the ark continued to be surrounded by water as far as they could see. The Bible tells us they were on the ark for a total of 150 days. There must have been times when Noah wondered if God had forgotten him. But Noah didn’t lose hope, he remained open even when he didn’t fully understand.
The Bible tells us after a long time, Noah sent a dove out to look for land. The first time the dove returned without any signs of land, the second time it returned with an olive branch and the third time it did not return for it had found a home on land. It wasn’t long after, that the boat came to rest and God told Noah, “it’s time to open the door.” Noah opened the door and he and his family and all the animals came out of the ark to a new beginning. God made a covenant with Noah and all of creation, vowing to never destroy life again. In Genesis 9:13 God tells us, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
The rainbow remains a symbol of hope for all of us, a reminder that when we find ourselves in a storm or when a dark cloud seems to be following us, we can be reminded that God has not forgotten us. The story of Noah reminds us to remain open to new possibilities, to trust and obey God’s word, for when we do we will hear God speak and begin anew in ways you might never expect.
Hallelujah our God reigns!