The Rainbow, God’s Covenant
by David Silvester
In Genesis Chapters 6-9 we have the story of Noah and the flood. As the flood waters subsided, and Noah and his family came out of the ark and celebrated this great salvation with a sacrifice, God met with Noah and gave him some guidelines for living under His blessing. This is where we read of God setting a rainbow in the clouds as the sign of His Covenant with all life on earth. Never again will He send a flood to destroy the earth.
In thinking about the rainbow it seemed that God was teaching me a wonderful principle. A rainbow is caused when a beam of sunlight shines through millions of droplets of rain and the colours of the spectrum are projected for us to see.
This same principle is used by someone polishing a diamond to be set in a piece of jewellery, such as an engagement ring. A series of flat surfaces are produced on the gemstone and a pencil beam of light is pointed at the gem. Behind the gem is a screen. The jeweller looks at the screen to see the pattern of colours produced. When there is a symmetrical pattern showing all the colours of the spectrum he will be satisfied that his work is done and the stone is ready for setting in its intended place.
As God shines the light of His Word and holiness into us, we might, at times, wonder, ‘what are we projecting? What do God and others see?’ In Matthew 5:16, Jesus says, ‘Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father In heaven.’ Linking these words with the principle of the rainbow reminded me of the opening line of a song from Sunday-school days. ‘Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.’ All those beauties of love, caring and helpfulness are the qualities desired to be seen in order to bring glory to Him.
As the beauty of Jesus, the light of the world, is seen in us, we may be completely unaware of what others observe, but if they see qualities that are Christ-like, He is being honoured and glorified.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I want to be like those droplets of rain with the sunlight of Your beauty shining through me. May others see something in my life that causes them to give the praise to You, I pray, Amen.
David Silvester is married and has a son, two daughters and eight grandchildren. He trained as a production engineer. He then moved on to become a lecturer of engineering craft skills before being called of God in his early fifties to become a pastor of a Baptist church. He says that,"having previously experienced an amazing healing on a day others expected me to die, it came as no surprise that God directed me and my wife, Margaret, to become involved with Ellel Ministries."
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