Photos from October 2, 2024; July 18, 2025; July 31, 2025
A rainbow (according to an AI overview!) is an “optical and meteorological phenomenon that occurs when sunlight interacts with water droplets, typically rain, in the atmosphere.” I suppose its name “rainbow” suggests that it’s connected with rain, this bow in the sky.
In the Bible, Genesis 6:18 and 9:9-17 are the first mentions of the word “covenant,” directly related to Noah and the flood. This Noahic covenant was between God and Noah and his descendants after him. It was the promise that God would never again flood the earth or cut off all flesh with a flood. The sign of this covenant was a rainbow. God would look on it and remember His everlasting covenant.
The rainbow, then, was directly tied to rain. It appropriately comes in connection with rain, after a storm, as a visible sign of God’s promise and faithfulness to all living beings. And it wasn’t just for Noah and his family in his day; it was a covenant for ALL generations to come and for ALL life on earth. It can serve to remind us that on the other side of life’s storms, there is a sure and certain promise that He who promised is faithful, and we can have hope.
I’ve written before about how God has used rainbows to encourage me. And I’ve included a few rainbows above since that time that the Lord has given me on specific days, at just the right moment where I’ve needed to remember His promises.
In the third photo above, I had just come back from the prayer garden and chapel where I go to pray. Light rain had ended, and my husband said this is the kind of weather where you might see a rainbow. For a moment, in my heart, I confess I thought, “Yeah, but do I make more from this than I should? If there is one, isn’t it just another rainbow?” I walked outside anyway, wishing to see more.
Then my eye caught it, the rainbow in the sky. It was pretty and nice. But then I saw something lower, just over the trees, an incredibly bold and brilliant rainbow! There were two, and the lower one was the deeper one. I had to go to a better spot in my neighborhood to see the lower one a little higher in the sky than I could on my back deck (photo below). The two rainbows together were a picture of His glory, of God once again patiently being willing to show me more, to remind me He can do more than I ask, think, or imagine. He is faithful and worthy of our trust.
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20
Praise Proclaimer 