A Rainbow and an Amen: The Watch Letter

Genesis 9:13-16

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and 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.

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This morning, when I woke up, the subject of broken promises kept coming up. I was thinking about all of the times I promised God I would do something or change something but didn't and was repenting for it. And then I thought about how God always keeps his promises to us.

I thank God for helping me to see the impact of broken promises. He put on my mind what it feels like when you are in a relationship with someone and they break the promises and commitments they made to you. As a result, your trust is broken and often your heart is too. So, how do we think God feels when we break the promises we've made to him? When we betray our relationship with him and break his trust and his heart? Of course, God's heart can't be literally broken because he is all powerful and perfect, but the Bible records that God was grieved by mankind's ways, decisions, thoughts, and actions. And these actions came about because from the beginning mankind broke their covenants (promises) made with God.

Genesis 6: 5-6: And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented [sorrowed] the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Now, one thing about the Lord. When he is trying to get our attention he will keep sending us alerts. We have to choose to pay attention to them just like we do when we get that text message alert. Another thing for me to repent about.

On the way to choir rehearsal today, we saw two very bold and beautiful rainbows. And they were visible for a very long time and seemed to get more precise as we drove. I had not seen rainbows like that before. The photo above was one of the ones taken by my nephews Sammy and Solo while I was driving. Of course, a photo can't fully capture God's masterpiece but it tells a story. The rainbows reminded me of Genesis 9:13-16 and the promise/covenant God made with Noah and mankind. He has never broken his promise for thousands upon thousands of years, yet we continue to break ours (and not just with God but with each other, which also matters to God).

So, that presents the next question: Why are we, a people who have always been blessed by God's promises, so easy to break our covenants with him?

First, let's look at the definition of the word covenant to understand how important it is:

• promise

• contract

• agreement

• commitment

• arrangement

• treaty

• pledge

• bargain

• convention

• pact

• compact

• trust

• 
  

These words make me think about the word "Amen." It means solemn ratification (agreement/place into contract). So, every time we say Amen to a word preached, a correction given, an encouragement shared, a warning presented, a prophecy stated, a scripture read, we are making a covenant with God. So, when we don't believe, do, or follow through with our Amens we are breaking promises to God.

The Lord came again today with emphasis that he was dealing with me about keeping my promises to him. I played messages from our Pastor Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn on the way home from practice and one of the messages zoomed in on covenants.

Chief Apostle Gunn explained that the person you can't stop being involved with, the thing you can't stop doing, or the sin you keep coming back to means you are in covenant with it. He explained that this can include the raunchy, ungodly, unfruitful, unapproved and unclean TV shows, comedy, music, social media, games, materialism, worldliness, fashion/culture/style, relationships, and other activities we won't stop being tuned into.

We are tied to these things. In agreement with these things. Under contract with these things. We have made a promise to these things and kept it instead of our covenants with God. We have abandoned our pledge to God and given our pledge to the things and people that bind us, that oppress us, that decay us and depress us; and most of all the things that cause us to backslide and separate from God.

Sometimes we promise God we are going to stop eating a certain way, dressing a certain way, spending money a certain way, living a certain way, talking a certain way, thinking a certain way, working a certain way, or dealing with people a certain way. We stop for a while and then find a more comfortable or palatable way to go back to it. And before we know it , we have entered into marriage (agreement) with these things and left God at the altar.

One thing I noticed about a rainbow: It has two sides that we can see. There seems to be an end to each side of the bow. So, to me, that means God expects someone else to be on the other side of the rainbow. To me, the bow says: His promise is outstretched to us and he wants us to receive it, but he also wants us to send promises back to him because our hands should be outstretched to him too.

What if God broke his covenant with Noah? By now there would be no humans on the earth but because of his covenant, he shows grace daily, giving us a chance to live under his promise once again.

Side note: Today's reminders from God also reminded me of another promise he gave to me. One day I will have a son named Noah. I must teach him to stay in covenant with God by example. Seeing the double rainbows also made me think that sometimes God's promises and covenants with us have a dual purpose. We never know the blessing on the other side that is waiting for us that God wants to provide by us first cleaning up our lives and breaking our covenants with wrong things, wrong people, wrong actions, and wrong choices and then repenting and fulfilling our Amens we made to him.