God placed His rainbow in the clouds as a sign and seal of His covenant with man and all the earth.
He promised never again to destroy the earth with floodwaters. This is the good news. The bad news, however, is that the rainbow also reminds us of the indictment against man. “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.” Genesis 6:5 (KJV)
God destroyed the earth with a flood during Noah’s day because of the dire wickedness of man’s heart. Sadly, man seem not to have learnt the lessons of the past.
A quick look at the state of our modern world today, you will agree that we have not moved on from Noah’s day. The same corruption, oppression, violence and wickedness pervades our modern world. The untold injustice, moral and sexual depravity, human trafficking and exploitation, murder including that of unborn babies, haters of God and everything Christianity.
The English dictionary describes the word “imagination” as “the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. It is the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful.” Collins dictionary defines it as, “the ability that you have to form pictures or ideas in your mind of things that are new and exciting or things that you have not experienced.”
The phrase “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart” epitomises the condition of our modern world today.
We live in an age where the imagination of the thoughts of our hearts have taken us to great and unimaginable heights. We’ve seen great advancements in medicine, information technology, transportation to mention but a few.
Human imagination has also, unfortunately, taken us to the other extreme end. We’ve seen advancements in military technology and weaponry, “weird” or strange personal identification and relationship laws. Over the centuries, we’ve seen social and political movements such as socialism, capitalism, hedonism to mention a few.
So, when next you see a rainbow in the clouds, be thankful because God remembers His covenant and promise to man and all creation.
The rainbow should also be a time of sober reflection. A time to reflect on our relationship with the Almighty God.
The rainbow should remind us of the need to consider the choices we make. We need to think about our thoughts and how they can easily shape our behaviour and ultimately our character and way of life.
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he [in behavior…]” Proverbs 23:7 (AMP).
The former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously said: “Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become…”
We live in a world that is broken by sin. All creation groans in distress and is in desperate need of redemption.
Redeeming the earth is not through more clever and intelligent human creative imaginations. This earth as we know it will have to go through the “Refiner’s fire” before it gets better. We will talk more about this in the next blog.
Stay blessed,
LaraLex
Hills and Valleys 