Find a Rainbow Day

A Symbol of God’s Promise

The rainbow is both a beautiful display of God’s creativity and a symbol of his trustworthiness since the first time he painted one across the sky after the flood.1 After months in the ark, God called Noah and his family out to the earth now much changed since the flood’s devastating destruction. Then Noah offered a sacrifice to God, and God made a covenant with him and all humans to this day:

“I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:11–13)

Cultural Abuse

We can celebrate God’s rainbow for its representation of his promises, and we can certainly celebrate the diversity in his creation.

Many today use the rainbow to celebrate diversity—specifically diversity of sexuality. We can celebrate God’s rainbow for its representation of his promises, and we can certainly celebrate the diversity in his creation. Consider the many beautiful insects, majestic mammals, breathtaking sea life, magnificent mountains in the world around us! Humans appreciate diversity because we are creative like our God whose image we bear. And Jesus himself showed his love for diversity among humankind by laying down his life for all people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). But we must not twist this idea of “diversity” to contain what God never intended—sexual sin or any sin at all.

Fun Physics

Rainbows result from refracted light—when white light breaks into a spectrum of color. They appear in the sky when light passes through water particles that bend white light, separating it into its colorful components that show up as a striped arc in the firmament, ranging in color from red through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (often abbreviated as variations of Roy G. Biv). If you can’t “find” a rainbow today, here’s how to make your own:

• Use a prism and dangle it over or place it on a white sheet of paper in direct sunlight.
• Fill a pan or glass with water and insert a small mirror at an angle so that sunlight hits the mirror directly. Hold a paper above the water and angle it until you see the rainbow.
• Use a water hose nozzle in “mist” mode. Spray the water in sunlight.

So, on this Find a Rainbow Day, let’s celebrate the perfect workmanship of our creator God, remembering the real symbolism of the rainbow as his unfailing promise that never again will there be a global flood to destroy the earth.