I have written before about going to Southwest Colorado over the years to enjoy the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. I did this before I met my wife, and after we met I discovered she had done the same thing whild growing up. In fact, her parents ended up buying a beautiful cabin up near Lake City, Colorado, that we were able to use and enjoy for over 30 years.

This week I came across the video attached to this devotion. It was taken in 2018. There were fires in Northern Colorado, and the smoke was drifiting into our valley. There was also a cloud that showed us a full rainbow from our front porch, with the dark smoke in the background.

I love that imagery. We were in an isolated place, hours from a town of any size. Dark clouds of smoke, filled with the aroma of buring forests, were very close to us. And then we look out and see the rainbow, a visual reminder that God keeps His promises.

Genesis 9:12–17 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 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. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

Rainbows are only mentioned a few other times in Scripture other that here in Genesis 9, and each time they are associated with a display of God’s glory. Many groups have tried to make the rainbow their symbol, sometimes representing things directly opposed to to God and His Will. But we know the true meaning of the rainbow. It is the symbol of God keeping His promises.

We all have dark clouds enter our lives. It could be a bout with RSV. It might be chemotherapy. Sometimes it is a move you did not want to make, the loss of a spouse or a child, unemployment, financial stress or just uncertainty. Look at the rainbow. God keeps His promises. The one who never again flooded the entire earth is the one who promised to care for you and be with you. Above that, He promised to forgive all your sin for Jesus’ sake and give you the eternal life you could never achieve on your own.

Remember the rainbow.