Rainbows and Roses Genesis 9:8-15 (17)
One of the best known stories in all literature is the story of Noah and the Ark. Even little children know the story of Noah and the ark and the animals. And we know the beautiful ending to the story. God made a promise to Noah, and to all humankind. Never again would God send a flood to destroy the earth. And this would be a sign of God’s promise. God placed a rainbow in the clouds. Whenever we see the rainbow we can remember God’s promise.
There’s something special and hopeful about a rainbow, isn’t there? Yet, there are some things about rainbows that are based more on fact than emotion.
Rainbows appear at the end of rainstorms because it is then that you have the two prequisites for making them: 1) water droplets suspended in the sky and 2) sunlight . . . Also, a rainbow's visible colors are always arrayed in the same order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet . . And finally, rainbows are actually circular. They appear to be arches [or half circles] only because their bottom halves are cut off at the horizon. If you want to see them in their full circular glory . . . you need to view them from high above the ground, such as onboard an airplane.” That’s why you can never find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The rainbow has no end. Just as God's love has no end.
Those are the technical truths about rainbows, but they do not explain the emotional lift we get from these wonders of nature. A father was asked by his 8-year-old son if he knew what a rainbow was. The father gave his son the scientific answer, sort of like I have just given you. The son said no, that a rainbow was God standing on his head and smiling after eating skittles.
Well, maybe so, if you are an 8-year-old.
There is just something about rainbows that lift our spirits whether we are young or old.
Let me take just a few moments this morning to consider three more realities about rainbows.
Rainbows follow storms. Maybe that’s one reason we love rainbows. No matter how fierce a storm may be, if we see a rainbow afterward, it gives us hope.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss, in her radio series “The Blessing of Thorns,” tells a wonderful story. Even if you have heard it before, it bears retelling.
It’s about a woman named Sandra.
Sandra was feeling real low as she made her way into the florist shop door. It was Thanksgiving week. This is the week she would have delivered her second child, a son. But there was an automobile accident. As a result, she lost her baby. As if to add to her grief, her husband’s company was threatening a transfer and her sister called to say she could not come for the holiday.
“Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?” she wondered aloud. “For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?”
“Good afternoon, can I help you?” The shop clerk’s approach startled her.
“I . . . I need an arrangement, “stammered Sandra. “For Thanksgiving.”
“Are you looking for something that conveys ‘gratitude’ this Thanksgiving?” asked the shop clerk.
“Not exactly!” Sandra blurted out. “In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.” Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the shop clerk said, “I have the perfect arrangement for you.”
Just then another customer entered the shop. The clerk said, “Hi Barbara . . . let me get your order.” She walked toward a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of long stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of the rose stems had been snipped . . . there were no roses, just stems with lots and lots of thorns.
“Want this in a box?” asked the clerk.
Was this a joke? thought Sandra. Who would want rose stems with no flowers? But it was no joke. After the customer left with her order Sandra stammered, “Uhh, that lady just left with, uhh . . . she just left with no flowers!”
“Right,” said the clerk. “I cut off the flowers. That’s the Special . . . I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet.” Then the clerk explained, “Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling very much like you feel today. She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery.”
“That same year I had lost my husband,” continued the clerk, “and for the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel.”
“So what did you do?” asked Sandra.
“I learned to be thankful for thorns,” answered the clerk quietly. “I’ve always thanked God for good things in life and never thought to ask Him why those good things happened to me, but when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask!
It took time for me to learn that dark times are important. I always enjoyed the ‘flowers’ of life, but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God’s comfort. You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we’re afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others.”
Sandra said, “I guess the truth is I don’t want comfort. I’ve lost a baby and I’m angry with God.”
Just then someone else, a man named Phil, walked in the shop. He said his wife sent him to pick up their usual Thanksgiving arrangement . . . twelve thorny, long stemmed stems!
“Those are for your wife?” asked Sandra. “Do you mind me asking why she wants something that looks like that?”
“No . . . I’m glad you asked,” Phil replied. “Four years ago my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord’s grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem. He (God) rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from ‘thorny’ times, and that was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific ‘problem’ and give thanks to [God] for what that problem taught us.”
As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, “I highly recommend the Special!”
“I don’t know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life,” Sandra said to the clerk. “It’s all too . . . fresh.”
“Well,” the clerk replied carefully, “my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God’s providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don’t resent the thorns.”
Tears rolled down Sandra’s cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. “I’ll take those twelve long stemmed thorns, please,” she managed to choke out.
“I hoped you would,” said the clerk gently. “I’ll have them ready in a minute.”
When the clerk returned, Sandra asked “Thank you. What do I owe you?” “Nothing.” said the clerk. “Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year’s arrangement is always on me.” The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra.
“I’ll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you’d like to read it first.”
It read:
“Dear God, I have never thanked you for my thorns. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant.”
Sandra had been through the storm. Now she could see the rainbow. I wonder if that isn’t one reason our spirits are lifted by rainbows? Rainbows follow storms.
Rainbows also remind of us of the beauty of God’s world. There are many people who believe this beautiful world happened by blind chance. They can make compelling arguments for their position. I have to ask them, however, if the world did happen by blind chance, why is it so beautiful? Why do we have roses and rainbows?
There is a story of a child from the back streets of a great city who was taken for a day in the country. When she saw the bluebells in the woods, she asked: “Do you think God would mind if I picked some of His flowers.”
That’s the way we ought to feel about creation.
This is God’s beautiful world, a world He has filled with rainbows and roses.
Sometimes people ask me to explain why there is suffering in the world, why we have thorns and storm clouds. Well, in a few words this can be explained:
1. Actions I take
2. Actions others take
3. The randomness of life
4. The presence of true evil in the world.
This is all a part of the process of life.
But seldom do people ask me to explain how we have roses and rainbows? They are not necessary for our survival. Their beauty serves no evolutionary function that I can tell. They are simply and solely the gift of a loving and gracious God.
They are the best evidence we have of God’s loving creation.
An unknown man tells about a reproduction he once saw of the Constitution of the United States. This reproduction had been skillfully engraved on a copper plate. At first glance this reproduction seemed to be nothing more than a piece of famous writing. However, if you looked at it from the proper perspective, you could discern the portrait of our first President George Washington artistically etched in minute detail in the words of the Constitution itself. Washington’s face is revealed in the shadowing of the letters, and you can see his person in the flowing words.
So it is with creation. When we look at the rainbow or the rose we see the nature of God. God is a God of love who colors our world with beauty.
Rainbows follow storms.
Rainbows remind us of the beauty of God’s world.
But here’s what is most important of all: rainbows remind us of our covenant relationship with God.
God made a promise to Noah and he sealed it with a rainbow. God also made a promise to Abraham. And to Isaac. And to Jacob. God made lots of promises in the scriptures. In fact, people who study these things and count them tell us that there are more than 3,000 promises in the Bible. You will find a promise to meet every need you will ever encounter. Promises are important to God, just like they are important to us.
1. “On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty, to God and my country.” The Scout’s promise.
2. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The President’s promise.
3. “To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish ’till death us do part.” The promise we give each other in the marriage ceremony.
Promises are important. Of course, a promise is only as good as the character of the one making the promise. The One who has made 3,000 promises to us in scripture has impeccable character.
· If God says that He will be with us through the storm, you can count on it.
· If He says He accepts us just as we are, you can take it to the bank.
· If He says He has prepared a place for us; that where He is - we may also be, you can look forward to it.
· If He says that nothing in all creation can separate us from His love for us, then relax.
Life is all taken care of. Remember that the next time you see a rainbow. Not simply that God promised Noah He would never again destroy the world with water, but remember all the promises God makes to us throughout the scriptures.
After the storm, a rainbow.
And …..
· Rainbows remind us of the beauty of God’s world.
· Rainbows remind us of the beauty of God’s promises.
· Allow God's beauty and promises to meet you where you are and heal your wounds.
· Allow God's beauty and promises to meet you where you are and quell your fears.
· Allow God's beauty and promises to meet you where you are and he will never leave your side.
