The Rainbow

"The rainbow, the symbol of the covenant with Noah, is typical of our Lord Jesus, who is the Lord's witness to the people. When may we expect to see the token of the covenant? The rainbow is only to be seen painted upon a cloud. When the sinner's conscience is dark with clouds, when he remembers his past sin, and mourneth and lamenteth before God, Jesus Christ is revealed to him as the covenant Rainbow, displaying all the glorious hues of the divine character and betokening peace. To the believer, when his trials and temptations surround him, it is sweet to behold the person of our Lord Jesus Christ - to see Him bleeding, living, rising, and pleading for us.

"God's rainbow is hung over the cloud of our sins, our sorrows, and our woes, to prophesy deliverance. Nor does a cloud alone give a rainbow, there must be the crystal drops to reflect the light of the sun. So, our sorrows must not only threaten, but they must really fall upon us. There had been no Christ for us if the vengeance of God had been merely a threatening cloud: punishment must fall in terrible drops upon the Surety. Until there is a real anguish in the sinner's conscience, there is no Christ for him; until the chastisement which he feels becomes grievous, he cannot see Jesus. But there must also be a sun; for clouds and drops of rain make not rainbows unless the sun shineth.

"Beloved, our God, who is as the sun to us, always shines, but we do not always see Him-clouds hide His face; but no matter what drops may be falling, or what clouds may be threatening, if He does but shine there will be a rainbow at once. It is said that when we see the rainbow the shower is over. Certain it is, that when Christ comes, our troubles remove; when we behold Jesus, our sins vanish, and our doubts and fears subside. When Jesus walks the waters of the sea, how profound the calm!" - C.H. Spurgeon

The bow shall be seen in the cloud.

Genesis 9:14

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The Cry of a Convicted Sinner

Thou righteous and holy Sovereign,
In whose hand is my life and whose are all my ways,
Keep me from fluttering about religion;
        fix me firm in it,
        for I am irresolute;
        my decisions are smoke and vapour,
        and I do not glorify thee,
        or behave according to thy will;
Cut me not off before my thoughts grow to responses,
      and the budding of my soul into full flower,
      for thou art forbearing and good,
      patient and kind.
Save me from myself,
              from the artifices and deceits of sin,
              from the treachery of my perverse nature,
              from denying thy charge against my offenses,
              from a life of continual rebellion against thee,
              from wrong principles, views, and ends;
              for I know that all my thoughts, affections,
              desires and pursuits are alienated from thee.
I have acted as if I hated thee, although thou art love itself;
  have contrived to tempt thee to the uttermost,
       to wear out thy patience;
  have lived evilly in word and action.
Had I been a prince
        I would long ago have crushed such a rebel;
Had I been a father
I would long since have rejected my child.
O, thou Father of my spirit,
     thou king of my life,
                      cast me not into destruction,
                      drive me not from thy presence,
                      but wound my heart that it may be healed;
                      break it that thine own hand may make it whole.

{ The Cry of a Convicted Sinner from The Valley of Vision }

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Focusing on Change

Photo by Myrna Moore

When we suffer bad/negative experiences, Satan uses these hurts to encourage bad attitudes and habits, which often leads to unhealthy and unbiblical choices. These unhealthy, sinful, and unbiblical choices and habits in your life are the basis for the problems you are living with right now. They are the consequences for seeking relief outside of God. Instead of facing pain, sin, hurt, and/or wrong choices responsibly, we tend to try to find a way to shift the blame and live in denial of the part we have played and the responsibility that lies with us in changing our behavior.

Sure, you want relief from the pain, but you don't want to have to change. Most often, the pain you cause yourself is as great or ever greater than the pain caused by your experience(s). But your denial of your responsibility keeps you in bondage to your unbiblical, sinful, self-destructive lifestyle.

{ You feel the way you feel, because you think the way you think, and act the way you act. Jim Berg }

What we call denial is what God calls self-deception.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. {James 1:22-24}

 During the time of the Apostles, a group of Jews did not react favorably when Paul and Barnabus confronted them with their own sin.

Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. 

Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. 

But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. {Acts 13:38-50}

 The Jews didn't like it when Paul and Barnabus began preaching to the Gentiles. When Paul and Barnabus spoke out against their envy and jealousy against the Gentiles, the Jews drove them away. They were unwilling to hear the truth about themselves. How often to we react in a similar way when a fellow Christian, or God Himself, exposes areas of our life that are in need of change.

Even David, whom God called "a man after His own heart," struggled with the sin of denial.

And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. 

And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 

And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.  

 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. {II Samuel 11:2-15}

David thought that making Uriah's death look like an accident would ease his guilt, but it didn't. If you read further in the passage, you will see just how much pain David's denial caused in this situation.


When you repeatedly disobey God's law, your heart becomes calloused and you are no longer sensitive to the guilt of your sin. Denial leads you into deeper sin habits.

Examine the list below and ask God to reveal to you the areas where denial is keeping you in bondage to sin. You may want to add more as God reveals additional areas of sin in your life.

• Sexual immorality (Galatians 5:19)
• Lust (Colossians 3:5)
• Discord (Galatians 5:20)
• Anger (Galatians 5:20)
• Dissention (Galatians 5:20)
• Envy (Galatians 5:21)
• Idolatry (Galatians 5:20; Ephesians 5:5)
• Cheating (I Corinthians 6:8)
• Drunkenness (Galatians 5:21)
• Homosexuality (I Corinthians 6:9-10)
• Stealing (I Corinthians 6:9-10)
• Stubbornness (I Samuel 15:22-23)
• Impurity (Galatians 5:19)
• Hatred/Bitterness (Galatians 5:20)
• Envy/Jealousy (Galatians 5:20)
• Selfishness (Galatians 5:20)
• Arrogance (II Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:20)
• Murder (I Corinthians 6:9-10)
• Adultery (I Corinthians 6:9-10)
• Greed (I Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:5)
• Lying (Revelation 22:12-16)

Ask God to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart that is willing to be broken over your sin, a heart that is willing to change.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. {Ezekiel 36:26-27}

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