A Calm After the Storm

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." - Jeremiah 32:17

On Day 1 of VBS this year, we learned about God's power over nature.  The verse above was our verse for that day.  Don't get me wrong, I know God has power over nature; but I never really stopped to think about it until today.

A HUGE, thundering storm made its way into Morristown today.  Thunder, lightning...the works.  It even caused our power to go off in the middle of church service (which made for an interesting time..ha ha).  What I didn't know, was that afterwards, outside, God was showing His handiwork in the sky.  Apparently, following this billowing storm, a glorious rainbow filled the sky over Morristown. 

The rainbow that appeared in the sky over Morristown following today's storm 

Remember when God first "premiered" the rainbow?  In Genesis 9, following the great flood in which only Noah and his family and those animals on his ark survived, God placed a rainbow in the sky as a covenant.  God said, "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 living creatures of every kin on the earth." - Genesis 9:13-16. 

Due to the evil that was present on the earth, God showed His power over nature as He destroyed everything on earth with the great flood.  After the hardship was over, however, God again showed His power...but this time in a very different way.  This time, His power was shown through a multi-colored painting etched in the clear, blue sky.  This heavenly painting (aka rainbow, for those of you lost in my imagery...LOL) was to be a promise for Noah, his family, and his descendants that He would never again destroy the earth by water.  A deeper truth here is that this rainbow also serves as a reminder that God keeps His promises.  His promises are true and can be trusted.

Today, somebody needed to be reminded of His promises - His promise that He is ever-present in our time of need - His promise that everything will be okay - His promise that Jesus loves us and will take care of us.  And today in Morristown, God's promises were remembered - through the display of a glorious rainbow that filled the sky.

I know God's promises are true.  I know God reveals Himself through His Word and through our circumstances. I also know that many times God speaks through nature to get our attention, but I've only ever thought about it in a negative way (like earthquakes or tsunamis) where there is despair and agony.  It was just really cool today, to see after the storm how God spoke HIS PROMISE, HIS TRUTH through nature by showing us His rainbow.

Truly there was a sweet calm, after the storm.