Genesis 9:12 – 16 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all the living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

What a tremendous interaction between God and his creation! To the child who asks where the rainbow came from it is such an amazing opportunity to explain how deep the love of God is for the creatures he has made. It is a chance to contemplate that although our tendency as human beings is to always disobey and turn away from God as the people of Noah’s day did, God’s desire is always to show mercy and bring us back into relationship with himself.

I grew up in the countryside and often watched from our verandah as the rainbow appeared sometimes just before the rain or after the rain. That mystified me because as a young child I did not yet understand that it did not rain everywhere at the same time. But what a beautiful show it was, sometimes bright and sometimes misty. As children we would try to name the colors aloud: red, yellow, orange, indigo…..…. Fortunately, we were taught the Genesis version of creation and the fact that the rainbow was a promise from God not to ever destroy the whole earth by water again as in Noah’s day.

The bottom line is that God loves mankind and has always gone to great lengths to demonstrate that love from time to time. So great is his love for you that he gave his only Son to make it possible for you to be in relationship with him. Such love, such amazing love!