Genesis 9 Devotional

A Bow in the Clouds

“I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.”Genesis 9:13 (BSB)

After the flood, God begins again with Noah much as he began with Adam. He blesses the family and tells them to fill the earth (9:1). He gives them food and sets limits around life and blood, declaring that murder must be answered with justice because every person is made in God's image (9:6). The flood did not erase that image. Human life is still sacred to God.

Then God makes a covenant, a binding promise, with Noah, his descendants, and every living creature. He will never again destroy the earth by a flood, and he sets his bow in the clouds as the sign (9:13). Remarkably, the rainbow is described as a reminder for God himself, not only for us (9:15-16). The end of the chapter shows Noah failing, but the promise never rested on Noah. It rests on God's word, the same faithfulness that later sealed a new covenant in the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20).

To think about: What promise of God do you most need to rest on today, instead of on your own faithfulness?