By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

I Will Remember You

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“When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
Genesis 9:16 English Standard Version

In the midst of a troubled, hurting world beset by sin and death, does God really care about me? After leading three funerals in two weeks and a personal diagnosis of cancer, I could easily wonder if God really cares about me.  I can ask myself, “Do you really care about this broken humanity, Lord?  Lord, do you even remember me at all?”

Noah may have felt the same way.  After serving God faithfully in building an ark for his family and pairs of all living creatures, God sent rain and floods upon the whole earth.  Great tumults and cataclysms destroyed all living things and after a whole year, as Noah came out of the ark, the world seemed hostile and unwelcoming, perhaps a place that God had deserted in His wrath at our sin.  Did God still care about this earth and those who dwell upon it?

The answer for Noah and for me came after a rainy afternoon when the clouds cleared and an amazing sign appeared in the sky.  A rainbow, a beautiful arc of color and light, appeared in the sky.  And I remembered the covenant that God had made, His promise to all living creatures, “I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant…”.

God has remembered me.  In the midst of great calamity and grief and pain, God remembered me.  I am not cast off and abandoned, but God reminds me that He is faithful and He will keep His covenant promise.  God has remembered this world and loved it, loved it so much that He sent His own Son into this world to save us.

“Do you care about me, Lord?”  The answer is a sign in the clouds and in His Son on the cross.  “Yes, I remember you.”  Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado