God's Promises

As we sat in the hospital room where they had put my wife, I looked out a western window and notice a multi-colored bow stretched across the cloudy sky. "God's promises," I tried to reassure her in the midst of trials and medical contraptions.

And it was beautiful. There it climbed up and over and beyond. There it streaked colors through the gray-washed sky. There it exposed vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, and purple. There it paraded hope through a storm drenched world. There in a hospital. There in a cloud of concern . There it was.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.(Genesis 6:8)

The bible states that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and scripture also says that Noah walked with God. God saw the wickedness of man and the corruption that flesh had brought upon the earth and God prepared to destroy it. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So God asked him to build a large boat, called an ark, gave him exact details of how to construct it. And God instructed Noah to load it with pairs of every kind of bird and animal on earth, as well as his family. Noah did as God commanded him.

Then God sent rain. For forty days and forty nights, it poured down until the earth was covered with water in a great flood, and all the people and animals outside of the ark drowned. And God created a wind to pass over the earth so that it dried up the great flood. Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven and a dove to see if they he dove returned with an olive branch in her mouth. After the water dried up, Noah build an altar and worshiped God, and God spoke to Noah and his sons. God promised that the earth and everything living on it would never again be destroyed by a flood. God said, "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth." (Genesis 9:13) So, the rainbow is the sign of that solemn promise.

Someone said that there are over 30,000 promises in the word of God. 30,000 promises in the bible. What's your favorite? Here are a few:

• I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself. (John 14:2-3)
• Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
• Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. (Jeremiah 33:3)
• Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

And God's best promise of all is that he offers us all salvation and eternal life through the blood of Jesus Christ (see sidebar). What greater promise is there than to be saved? To go from worst to first? To step from bottom to top?

Remember this, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) Thank you, Lord.

But as I sat there with my wife in the hospital room, waiting for doctors and test results, watching a rainbow glisten, the Holy Ghost brought this promise to my mind: As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)