God’s Promises

Last week we’d been out in the park with three of our grandchildren, and were on our way back to the car when the smallest one, (three years old), declared that she couldn’t walk any further. Normally I would carry her on my back, but she was so muddy that I picked her up and cradled her, as you would a baby, to avoid the muddy boots. So she was looking straight up into the sky.

She said, “Oh look, a rainbow Grandma!”And sure enough, there was a rainbow, directly above us, in a clear blue sky, with barely a cloud to be seen, and no sign of rain. It was a full semicircle, but just ended in the sky, not like all the ones I’d ever seen before, which touched the horizon at both ends.

My immediate thoughts were to wonder who it was for, and why had God sent this reminder of His Covenant promises to us. He first put the rainbow in the sky after the flood, to be a sign of His Covenant never to destroy all life on earth with a flood again (Genesis Chapter 9).

Quite a comforting thought with all the rain we’ve had this winter, and the threat that global warming might melt the polar ice caps and flood the world!Anyway, most of us still think of the rainbow as a sign from God. But now it reminds us of the New Covenant that Jesus came to make on our behalf.

I don’t know who it was that day needing reassurance that God was with them, but it gave me a joyful reminder that God is still sovereign, and His promises are unbreakable. Despite all the news we hear, making us aware that we no longer live in a Christian country, despite the government trying to solve the problems with man’s ideas, and no reference to God, and despite the increasing suggestion that we’ll soon become an Islamic nation, God is still God.His promises to us, His people, are unbreakable.

It got me meditating again on the word Covenant, and all that it means. It brings such joy to be able to rest in the Covenant that Jesus made for us, with the unbreakable promises to love us, save us, do the best for us, sanctify us, and be with us.

I can recommend doing a Bible study on the word ‘Covenant’, by either putting it into a Bible search engine, or looking it up in a concordance. Whoever has said “Yes, please” to a relationship with Jesus as Saviour and Lord, is‘in’, by which I mean they are covered by the Covenant promises, and there’s no doubt about it.

The Bible verse for today has a both a commandment and a promise in it for those in this Covenant relationship with Him; ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ (Matthew 28:19-20).

Prayer: Lord Jesus we’re so gratefulthat, because You resisted temptation,You were able to seal the New Covenant on our behalf with the Father, and restore relationship between us and Him. Please help us to fully grasp all that it means, and receive blessings that You have for us. Thank You for the rainbow, a sign of Your Covenant promises to us. Amen.