Trace the Rainbow

Introduction

Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian and pastor George Matheson lost his sight when he was a student. That led his fiancée to break off their engagement because she could not face life with a blind man. He never married; his sister looked after him for some years in his blindness and supported him.

When her wedding day came, he was overcome by grief, sadness, and anxiety, and spontaneously wrote the hymn addressed to “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.” He writes:

O joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

and feel the promise is not vain

that morn shall tearless be.

The way our Old Testament reading speaks of the rainbow made me think of Matheson’s line: “I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain”.

No matter how young or old you are, and no matter how many times you have seen one, to behold a rainbow is always an awesome sight.

Maybe you remember from school that rainbows appear when light from the sun strikes a collection of raindrops and that the beautiful colors in the rainbow are caused by the refraction and internal reflection of light rays that enter the raindrops. A bright, full rainbow is indeed a beautiful sight.

Just two weeks ago, my sons and I were walking around Armstrong Park when we were caught in downpour. We were just about to seek shelter when we turned around a saw a full rainbow, spanning the horizon. We stood there, soaked to the bone, pointing and taking pictures. When we have showers of rain intermingled with sunshine, you cannot help but look for the rainbow that often then appears.

You could say whole book of Genesis invites us to look for the rainbow in the rain and see the promise it makes for the world as a whole. It is the story of our God who made a world, a world that was pronounced, "Good, very good."

And yet, in just a few chapters the world has gone from good to bad because of human sinfulness. Human beings, created to be obedient creatures in the Creator's world, began to act like creators of ourselves, gods unto ourselves.

And it was then that God regretted the world that had been created, particularly God's human creations. In chapter 6 records these sad tragic words: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”

In anger and regret, God made the rains to fall, and the waters to rise, and the waves to beat. The water rose and obliterated every living thing.

And yet, God is determined to have the last word in our story. Our sin, our chaotic wickedness that made such a mess of the good world, this is not the last word. One family was preserved, one family and their collection of creatures. Noah's family was preserved on the ark. Today’s reading ends in good news because God seeks us out, the promise is not in vain. This promise is given a sign—the rainbow.

Until I thought about recently, I don’t know that I had ever thought about the obvious fact that the word rainbow combines the words rain and bow. the Hebrew word that we translate “rainbow” usually means in the Old Testament “the bow of war.” The rainbow’s shape is that of a weapon of war, but it is a weapon God has put aside.

Wonderful, isn’t it? God could just as easily have made (say) a particular constellation of stars into the sign. He could have used fire or wind or stone.

But in effect, by bringing the flood God made war on humanity. God now says, “But I am now putting down my weapon of war.” Indeed, God is turning it into something beautiful. God is no longer the Enemy of the world but the Savior.

At the beginning of the service we prayer:

Almighty and most merciful God, the protector of all who trust in You, strengthen our faith and give us courage to believe that in Your love You will rescue us from all adversities.

Did you catch that? Give us courage to believe that in Your love You will rescue us. Did you wonder why we would pray for courage to believe that God would rescue us?

Well, because sometimes God doesn’t feel like our Protector, our Rescuer, our Savior. Sometimes, we go through seasons of life when God feels like anything but that. Perhaps you pray and you pray, but there’s no answer. Has God rejected me? Forgotten me? Why has he hidden himself? Why is He so distant? Has He simply turned his back on us?

Maybe it is not absence or indifference, but rather that God seems downright hostile. We’ll suffer so much—sickness, loss, rejection—that we’ll begin to feel as if God has it out for us, as if He really is our enemy.

Maybe, God can feel like a judge, ready to condemn. Like the disciples in our gospel text, you sometimes feel the presence of God can be a terrifying thing.

It is a difficult thing to “trace the rainbow in the rain,” to believe in God’s saving love. In fact, it requires more courage than what we can muster up by ourselves.

And so, God encourages us with a sign. When we look at the rainbow, we are invited to breathe a sigh of relief at what it signifies. Whenever a rainbow appears, it reminds us of God’s commitment never again to devastate the world. God has laid down His bow. God has ceased hostilities.

With this sign, we have nothing to do to make it work. This is all from God. After all, God saw that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” so it is no use for Him to make the future dependent on us. The rainbow does not require human effort to make it shine. It is purely a sign that speaks of God’s grace and mercy.

And He still remembers His promise not to destroy the earth with a flood. More so, He also remembers that ultimate solution for sin—the suffering and death of His Son. He remembers it not with pain in His heart, for that Son is now at His right hand, ruling all things for the Church, as St. Paul puts it ().

So the next time you get caught in a storm, take the time to trace the rainbow through the rain, and be reminded that God’s promise is not vain.

Scripture Reading

Point 1

Point 2

Point 3

Conclusion