a different way of doing things…

the first thing that happens when noah came out of the ark is worship. he builds an altar.

and the second thing that happens is GOD makes a rainbow. and in that rainbow is a covenant and a promise. GOD says in genesis 9:12 (msg), this is the sign of the covenant I am making between ME and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting MY rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between ME and the earth. from now on, when I form a cloud over the earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll remember MY covenant between ME and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life.

this may have been very important in noah’s life. if it’s true that a canopy had covered the earth and noah had never seen rain, then it was going to rain again. the first rain that noah had seen, the first time those drops had fallen, it had destroyed the earth. how’s he going to feel the next time that happened? “GOD, last time it destroyed the earth. is it going to destroy the earth this time?” GOD said, “i'm going to make sure you don’t see that. I’m going to put a rainbow in the clouds to say I’ve got a different plan this time.”

you and i need to catch hold of that. the rainbow, the sign of GOD’s promise is GOD loves to do things in different ways. HE’s got a different plan for our lives. as you and i look into the skies and see the beauty of a rainbow, it should remind us that GOD has a new plan, a different way of doing things.

just a thought from the front porch…