While spending time with the Lord one morning at a nearby park in prayer and reading His word, I noticed an interesting occurrence in nature.  When the sun was first coming up, it was red.  Some time later, it became orange and then yellow.  I also noticed that the sky was red where it touched the horizon and became orange and then yellow as I looked further above the horizon.  This reminded me of the visible light spectrum which goes from red to orange and continues all the way to violet.  So when I saw this spectrum of colors, I looked at the horizon opposite the sun rising, and sure enough, it was violet; and the sky above me was blue.  These colors happen to be the colors we see in a rainbow.

After the flood, God established His covenant with Noah, saying that He would not destroy the earth again with the waters of a flood.  As a token of this covenant, God set His “bow in the cloud," saying, “I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9:16)  The rainbow is a symbol of God’s everlasting covenant of mercy!

In the scriptures we read: “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22, 23)  Every morning, as the sun rises, the sky displays all the colors of the rainbow.  Thus, every morning, God remembers His covenant of mercy.  Truly, His mercies are new every morning!  Furthermore, as there is not a time when the sun is not rising somewhere upon the earth, there is never a time when God “forgets” His mercy.  With each passing day, this rainbow of colors encircles the entire earth.

In Exodus 34:6-7, God declared to Moses His name, representing His character, saying, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…”  Our God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is a God of mercy and grace.  Every morning, as the sun rises and sheds its light upon the earth, God bends its beams of light around the face of the earth to form a rainbow – the token of His everlasting covenant of mercy.  Truly, “the heavens declare the glory (or, name) of God…” (Psalm 19:1; see 102:15)  May you be reminded every morning of the merciful, compassionate God we serve, whose mercies are new every morning.  Great is Thy faithfulness, O God!

(Editorial from the archives.)

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