“Chasing Rainbows”
September 22, 2019
Genesis 9:11-17
“I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
“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.”
Last week was a rainy week for this time of the year. It ended the fire season pretty early this year. My nephew from Minnesota came with a crew to fight fires and they only ended up working a couple of them. With all the rain, they had to drive back home early.
With the rain, we also had the privilege of seeing some pretty cool rainbows. One day, early in the week, I left the house with bright sunshine shining down on me just after it had been raining cats and dogs a few minutes earlier. Above the roof tops, I saw a triple rainbow across the valley. It almost covered that whole part of the sky. I thought, “I have to get a picture of that!” So I jumped in my truck and started driving for a better view. I drove up a hill near my house so I could look down in the valley – but it wasn’t quite good enough. So I drove a little higher and could see through the trees a beautiful rainbow hovering over the scenery – but the trees were in the way! So I drove over on the other side of the hill – and the rainbow had faded to the point that it wasn’t very spectacular. Finally, I gave up and headed to the store. As I drove to Grocery Outlet I thought about what I was doing and kind of chucked at myself for chasing rainbows. As those words came to mind I kind of liked them. “Chasing Rainbows”! It has kind of a ring to it. I started thinking about it from a spiritual perspective and here’ what I came up with.
First, rainbows are beautiful. There are seven colors in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. I think one of the reasons they are so spectacular is because prior to seeing them our world had been drab and dark and dreary. Then the sun comes out and brings color to our gray world. Our spirits are lifted and our day seems a little brighter in so many ways.
I think spiritually there is a lesson for us here. No matter how dark our day is – it’s going to get better. God gives so much direction on how to brighten up our day. A favorite of mine is found in Philippians chapter 4. God says,
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
In case you missed it - He says it twice! “REJOICE!”
I used to think it was odd that God tells us to rejoice. I thought it was just a reaction to something good happening to us, but apparently, not. We choose to rejoice. It is a directive from God – a command if you will. Now, I have to tell you, when I first came to the Lord, I was anything but joyful. I was negative and depressed and had a pretty negative outlook on life. There ARE a lot of negative things going on in the world. There is a lot of bad, bad stuff happing right now. I watch the news on TV sometimes or read something on the internet and it just makes me sick to my stomach – but God says to rejoice! How can we do that? The answer is to change our focus. God gives us the formula for a happy life. The first thing is to give the negativity to God. He says,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
“Present your requests to God.” Pray, pray, pray. Don’t have all that anxiety churning your stomach and burning your brain so you can’t sleep. Give it to God. Sometimes I tell Him that I can’t handle it. I’m giving my concerns to Him. And I dust my hands off. Unfortunately, I often want to take it right back again – so I have to work at releasing it to Him.
I want you to notice that your prayer, as you present your requests to God, need to be with a grateful heart. That’s hard! Have you ever been wrestling with a burden – so anxious and worried that it upsets your whole life? Being grateful is probably the last thing on your mind. But gratitude is a choice, too. We need to take our focus off our problems and onto our blessings – and there are many. There are always so many things to be thankful for. In fact, God’s Word gives us instruction on how to have a grateful heart; how to have a rejoicing heart.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
I use this verse almost daily. When my mind drifts in areas I don’t want it to or when the enemy insets an ungodly suggestion in my mind – I recite this Scripture and choose to think about something else.
The rainbow is so beautiful. It inspires hope and joy. It inspires me to worship and praise God. He has to be beautiful and artistic and good to create such a lovely thing.
Another thing I learned from chasing rainbows is 2) Rainbows are illusive. I was running up this street then another and then drove up a road to get a better view and I never could catch that view I was looking for.
It reminded me of life. What are we chasing? Happiness? Security? Wealth? Jesus said,
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Mark 8:36
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24
And we get caught up in the world so easily. In this day and age it seems the world is in a mad search for pleasure and more pleasure. People try anything. Some work hard to earn money because they think if they have enough money they can buy their pleasure. And some have enough money to buy anything their hearts desire and their wicked minds can think of. We read accounts in the paper of problems with alcohol and drugs and sexual experimentations. You have probably heard about the island one billionaire had for illegal sex trafficking and this week another wealthy man was found killing multiple victims. When a person gives in to sin there is no telling where it might end. Someone said,
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
Jesus gave us our direction,
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
Happiness is an elusive thing, much like a rainbow. It has no substance and like the rainbow – its creator is God. Joy is one of the fruits of being Spirit-filled. As we seek His Kingdom first; as we put God first; as we seek to do the right thing – all that we desired to begin with will be added to us as well.
And that brings me to the third point. 3. A rainbow is a reminder of a promise. It not only reminds us of God’s promise but it reminds the animals and even God, Himself, of His promise. Read it again,
“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.”
Do you see that the covenant is not just between God and man but God included the animals in that covenant, too? Every time we see a rainbow we ought to get a little shot of endorphins; it ought to bring us pleasure to see it. It is a promise. It ought to inspire hope – the trusting expectation God that God will keep His word. It ought to remind us that better days are coming.
A rainbow comes after a rain. The rain is over. Sunshine is on the way. Hope is so important to have in our life. Last week I talked a little bit about how important it is to bring hope to someone who is suicidal – but we all need it. I mentioned Hebrews 11:6 last week, but let’s visit it again.
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Why should we earnestly seek God? Because God promises to reward us. Why should we choose to believe God exists? Because God promises to reward us. Why should we come to God? Because God promises to reward us. Why should we put our faith in God? Because God promises to reward us. We can’t please God any other way.
Don’t chase rainbows. Learn from them. 1. They are beautiful and remind us of a beautiful Creator. 2. They are illusive and without substance – like the world is without God. 3. They bring pleasure. They remind us of God’s promise and inspire hope in our life.
I hope when you see a rainbow from now on that they will remind you to put God first in your life.
