An airplane traveler commented that while flying high above the earth, she had seen the unusual sight of a full-circle rainbow. Rainbows are created, we know, when the sun shines through water droplets, breaking the light into its differing wave lengths which we see as colors. In order to see the whole rainbow (the full circle), one has to be high enough that the ground is not in the way.
Each rainbow is unique to the person viewing it, because we each see the apex of the bow at an angle of roughly forty-two degrees. Even the tallest mountain isn't going to work to see the full circle—unless you're hanging off the face of a cliff—because the sunlit drops on the bottom part of the circle are going to be hidden, that is, lower than the forty-two degrees from your head [actually, the shadow of your head. It gets so complicated!]
The rainbow-sign given to Noah and to all his descendants after him signified that God was making a covenant with them. "Then God said, 'I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life." (Genesis 9:12-15) Seeing rainbows should remind us of God's mercy and provision.
Sometimes it rains and we don't see a rainbow—although probably somewhere, someone can. When we do see one, it is only partial; we seldom see the full rainbow. God, though, always sees it as complete, a full circle. It is like that with His providence too. We can see only part of it, and sometimes we fail to see it at all. But He sees it! It's perfect! It's whole and beautiful! If we could just see what He sees!
Each rainbow is unique to the person viewing it, because we each see the apex of the bow at an angle of roughly forty-two degrees. Even the tallest mountain isn't going to work to see the full circle—unless you're hanging off the face of a cliff—because the sunlit drops on the bottom part of the circle are going to be hidden, that is, lower than the forty-two degrees from your head [actually, the shadow of your head. It gets so complicated!]
The rainbow-sign given to Noah and to all his descendants after him signified that God was making a covenant with them. "Then God said, 'I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life." (Genesis 9:12-15) Seeing rainbows should remind us of God's mercy and provision.
Sometimes it rains and we don't see a rainbow—although probably somewhere, someone can. When we do see one, it is only partial; we seldom see the full rainbow. God, though, always sees it as complete, a full circle. It is like that with His providence too. We can see only part of it, and sometimes we fail to see it at all. But He sees it! It's perfect! It's whole and beautiful! If we could just see what He sees!
Although we may be privileged some time to see a full-circle rainbow, and we may at some point understand how huge God is as our Source, much of the time we must be content with the beauty of seeing only a little. That teaches us to walk by faith, not by sight, "for we live by believing and not by seeing." (II Corinthians 5:7)
MaryMartha
Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.
Art from http://www.sxc.hu/
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