God's promises

A few months ago, I was riding with my friend in Yerevan, Armenia. Yerevan sprawls out in the shadow of Mount Ararat where Noah's ark came to rest after the great flood. I was there teaching at a small biblical training institute. The traffic in Yerevan was crazy as usual, with people zipping from lane to lane, slamming on their brakes and pushing on the gas unexpectedly, and honking their horns everywhere. (Armenians have a wide variety of honks, meaning everything from "Heh, I want to let you know I am here" to "Heh, jerk! Who taught you to drive?")

It had been raining hard. Then suddenly the rain stopped, and the sun popped out. Right ahead of us, stretching majestically across the multi-lane road on which we were traveling, appeared a beautiful rainbow with vibrant colors. I have seen many rainbows in my life, but this one was very special to me. As I stared at it, I realized I was looking at a rainbow not far from where Noah saw the first rainbow. Then I started thinking about the promise this rainbow symbolizes.

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. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

The great flood occurred over 4,000 years ago. All this time, the Lord has been keeping his promise to never destroy the world by a flood again. And every time a rainbow shows up, he reaffirms his commitment to this. That is his nature. When he makes a promise, he keeps it. So, today we can trust him to do the same.

The Lord has promised that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:13 ESV) and that whoever comes to him, he will never cast out (John 6.37 ESV). So, those who cry out to God with faith in Jesus Christ and repentance from their sins can be sure they will not come into judgment, but have passed from death to life (John 5.24 ESV). After we come to him, he affirms that he will continue working on us until Jesus returns. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1.6 ESV). He assures us that he will not stop giving us the desire and power to do what pleases him (Phil. 2.13 NLT) and that his spirit will join with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children (Rom. 8.16 NLT).

Regardless of what may come our way in life, he guarantees that nothing will be able to separate us from his love. Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, if we are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? Nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow -- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8.35,38,39 NLT).

Rather than separating us from him, he promises that he will cause whatever comes our way to work together for our good (Rom. 8.28). And in the end we will find that overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. If we will just trust the Lord to be faithful to his promises and obey what he prompts us to do, we will see like Joshua, that not one word of all the good promises the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass (Josh. 21.45 ESV). God is always faithful to his promises. What he says, he will do.

The next time you see a rainbow, I hope you don't just blow it off as a pretty sight. Instead, I hope it fills you with a sense of wonder at God's faithfulness and fills your mind with memories of how he has been faithful to his promises in your life.

DAN UPCHURCH is a native of Bollinger County. He and his wife, Lori, have spent many years as missionaries in Ukraine and currently serve in Poland.