Count Your Rainbows, Not Your Storms

Red.

Orange.

Yellow.

Green.

Blue.

Indigo.

Violet.

I’m sure every American child at some point in time learned about ROY G. BIV, an acronym to assist in learning the colors of the rainbow.

The colorful arc is more than just a mirage of beautiful hues, it’s a Biblical promise that something beautiful always comes after the storm.

In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, meaning the beginning, God presented a “bow” to the world after a one-of-a-kind storm completely destroyed the Earth and wiped out mankind.

Genesis 9 recounts this miraculous phenomenon when God said, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember the covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on Earth.”

In this moment, the Lord makes a covenant with humanity that no matter how angry He is at us, He will never bring such destruction to His people ever again. While this principle applies specifically to physical storms, it also applies to the storms that life can bring us.

People endure pain, betrayal, heartbreak, abuse of any kind, deceit, financial struggles, mental health battles; this list could go on and on, yet years ago, God promised that He would never flood our lives with too much water, ever again. Instead, He professed that He would be our lifesaver to hold on to, when the waters get deep. Isaiah 43:2 confirms this guarantee from God when He said, “when you pass through the waters I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you”(NIV).

God never promised that it wouldn’t rain, but He did assure us that the rain would never take us out. The pain wouldn’t cause us to drown. The betrayal wouldn’t cause us to sink. The heartbreak wouldn’t keep us down. The abuse wouldn’t take us deep enough to where we couldn’t come back up to survive and thrive. The deceit, financial struggles, mental health battles and other issues we could potentially face in this thing called life, would not be the end of our story.

God promised His people, not only a rainbow of protection, but a savior to stand in the gap between the “living creatures of every kind on Earth.” God is on our side.

Over the past couple of years, when I have had some tough days, God always seems to make me smile, by placing a little ribbon on the sky to remind me of His love.

The colors of the rainbow take my breath away and keep my eyes peeled to the heavens in awe, but they also set my heart on fire and remind me of the goodness of who God is and the promises He’s made not only to me, but to the rest of this world.

The Enemy wants to keep our minds fixed on the storms that He sends into our lives, but God is telling us to count the rainbows. When we number our storms, it keeps us stuck in what happened to us, but when we add up the rainbows, it means that we came out on the other side and the storms didn’t take us out. The bow is a sign of survival and the gateway into a season of promise. You survived the storm, and now you’re thriving in the new season. The rain was just water for your garden of victory and the rainbow is an indication of just how far God has brought you out of your situation.

To top it all off, the last three instances of rainbows I've seen have been immense, intense and incandescent rainbows that have popped up in pairs.

What’s better than one rainbow? Two.

Sometimes God will not only meet your expectation of restoration, but He will double it. You’ve come out of the storm, but now God is about to give you an extensive, double-serving of blessings for all of your troubles. The dual rainbows represent confirmation from God. While the first rainbow is the promise, the second one affirms that the promise is indeed on its way. You’re about to receive double the portion that God has already professed He would give you.

It’s a friendly reminder from the man upstairs to change your perspective. It’s not about the number of storms that life has put you through, rather it's the number of rainbows that bring light, life and love back into your life, after the storm has passed.

Count your rainbows, not your storms.