Rainbow Revelations

Rainbow in autumn – photo by Jill Rushbrook

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I was feeling pretty sick, but managed to drag myself outside to take in my trash barrel when I looked up and saw the most beautiful rainbow. “Wow” I said out loud and immediately feeling the presence of God, I welled up with tears. Feeling so fatigued and rather down, I had just prayed that I needed some kind of sign or miracle that God was with me, not just through this sickness, but in life. Still recovering from a recent heartbreak, I had been doing pretty well only to be knocked down by illness, which made me feel alone and back in a dark place where I was reliving the pain from the past. The enemy loves to use such times of tiredness or illness to attack us when we are most vulnerable.

I had been discounting who God is in my life, making Him only as small as my thoughts allowed, not truly believing He could come through for me in my life…when I saw this rainbow. It was not just a sign that God was with me, but reminded me that the promises that God gives his people in His Word are very much alive and true today (Isaiah 40:8). God’s promises and power that saved Noah, his family, and the creatures of the earth; that sustained Joseph and worked out all the evils done to him in his life for good; that provided thousands of people with food from just a few loaves of bread and some fish…same God – same power – same promises that I can cling to and rely on no matter what (Hebrews 13:8) God was faithful then, is faithful now, and ever more will be faithful to his people – including me!

Then, another thought came to me, that as beautiful and awe-inspiring as this rainbow was with its seven hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, there are infinitely more colors that I cannot see. Just as I cannot see all the ways God is working things out for my good, he sees the full vivid picture. Just as I cannot fathom or understand how things are or will work out in my life, God can see all the colors and all the details of my life laid out before Him. Just as I cannot fathom His thoughts or His ways, He knows all because He is God and His ways are higher. It is in my limited view of my life that I acknowledge His unlimited knowledge. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”(Ecclesiastes 3:11)

I may anxiously try to gain some understanding on my own, attempting to create clarity with just a few paint colors at my disposal.  But, my God is the true artist and is the only one who can create a masterpiece with countless colors that I cannot even see. This is where the beauty of faith comes into play, as I hand over the canvas of my life for the Creator to create his wondrous work. I place my trust in God, that while He holds the paintbrush, He will create a beautiful painting from an endless supernatural spectrum of heavenly hues, already knowing each brushstroke from beginning to end, as only He can.