Christ Church Daily Devotion Oct 2 2023

In this Daily Devotion, the reading from Genesis chapter 9 talks about God establishing a covenant with Noah and his descendants. God promises to never destroy all life on earth with a flood again, and the rainbow is a sign of this covenant. The author reflects on how rainbows remind them of God's love and care, and encourages readers to give thanks for the beauty of creation and God's assurance of love. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for October 2nd, 2023. Today we will be reading from Genesis chapter 9, verses 8 through 17. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you, the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals. All those that came out of the ark with you, every living creature on earth, establish my covenant with you. Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood. Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. 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 my 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 the earth. So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth. God created human beings in God's image, and for a brief period of time, we live into that image. From the moment of Adam and Eve's disobedience in the garden, and time after time following that, we have chosen to follow our own agendas that are different from God's will. With the flood, God wiped the slate clean of all creation in order to begin again with only Noah and his family and the animals from the ark. God did not want us to live in fear of this happening again, so God made a covenant with us and used the rainbow as a sign of that promise. I love to see rainbows. I have pictures of them on my iPhone. Rainbows often appear after a rain when the sun comes through the clouds and the moist air in just the right conditions. Invariably, when I see a beautiful rainbow, the scientific part of my brain remembers how water droplets act as prisms, bends the sunlight into wavelengths, and reveals the beautiful spectrum of colors. Then I think of Noah and remember the covenant, and I am thankful that we worship the one God who loves us and cares for us and does not want us to live in fear. Today's personal worship option? Give thanks today for the beauty of creation and for the covenant God made with us. We know that nature can be destructive, but God does not want us to live in fear. Give thanks that God reaches out to assure us of his awesome love for us.