For Every Forever

When every hard, vivid memory comes rushing back. Every hurt and every pain. Every regret from the past, that wants to keep you hostage forever. When those memories come back to destroy. Every time.

Your reaction is to survive. Every time.

Because in that moment of re-living those difficult memories, your need to survive is the immediate need, and survival becomes all that matters. And it’s like you’ve been saving up this reaction, hiding it in secret, holding to it tightly, just for this moment when the memory returns, just for this purpose when the guilt overwhelms, just for this time of need when the shame destroys. And it overcomes you, so you react. So you aren’t destroyed. Again. So you don’t end up the victim. Again.

So you react just to survive.

But this is not life. No. Stop to remember.

Look up, and remember, God. And then, right there. Right then! In your looking up to see God, in your stopping to behold God, all of the glory and the grace of God becomes yours. In your looking up. In your beholding.

Yes, behold!

“And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, ...I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” - Genesis 9:9,13

“...Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.” - Genesis 9:15 NLT

Behold! Look up and remember, God.

Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. God has established it. And God still keeps His promise to His creation. Never again, He has said it! Behold! The rainbow in the sky proves it, that He has established a covenant with you, that He won’t ever send a flood to cover life again, to consume you and destroy you. Never again! He has established it. He has promised it. He has done it! He will never leave you (Hebrews 13:5). He will strengthen you and help you (Isaiah 41:10). He will come to save you (1 Timothy 1:15). He has done it, He has rescued you! Oh, how He loves you! (John 3:16-17).

And you see, you remember, that it is God Who orchestrates all things. It is God’s power and God’s presence, His almighty omnipotence that ordains everything. Every time. So that every memory points to Him, the One Who meant it all for good. For your good.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
- Isaiah 43:2-3

Every time. Every time that hard memory raises its head. Every time that protective, fearful reaction to survive takes over. Every time that shame and guilt weigh down. Every time.

Behold! God is.

God is forever faithful. Faithful to keep His word, faithful to keep His promise to you. The rainbow in the sky proves it. For every time, God is enough, because He made an irrevocable covenant with His creation, with you. To never again destroy all life. And the bow in the sky proves it.

God and you. One covenant, one promise, displayed for the world to see. Faithfulness, coloured in a rainbow. For you to remember Him. Because He remembers you. For every forever.

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“and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” - Genesis 9:15-16 NLT