By Pastor Don Schatz
It’s the Memory
You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud Link
“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
Our family once saw a double rainbow. Both ends of both rainbows were visible in a Northeast Arizona mountain valley full of horses. It was beautiful. Our kids were younger. Both parents were church workers. Of course, the kids got a lesson about Genesis 9. We spoke of God’s promise to Noah never again to destroy the earth with floodwaters. We talked about the promises of God in Jesus and how the rainbow reminds us of them as well.
There is one other thing important to remember about a rainbow. Did you note it in today’s Bible verse? We aren’t the only ones who see the rainbow. God sees it. God put the rainbow in the sky not only for our memory of his promise, but as a spark to his own memory of his everlasting promise. The first thing about rainbows is memory. God’s memory. God’s memory of his love for us and for his whole creation. The first thing about rainbows is memory. Our memory. Our memory of God’s memory as together we look on the very same rainbow. If from quite different perspectives!
But one perspective is always the same for us and for God. Memory. Promise. Love which gave, and still gives, birth to both. Even a bow that is not a rainbow can be a rainbow as it sparks our memory of God’s memory of us, and his love for us. A tremendous arch lifted up against a winter sky is just an arch. When coupled with God’s memory and ours, God’s promise and our trusting faith in that promise, even the arch becomes a rainbow. Without that memory it’s just an arch. With the memory, it’s a rainbow for you. I promise.
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
