“The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth” (Gen. 9:16).
My beloved wife doesn’t like the sudden, often violent summer thunderstorms marked by high winds, thunder, lightning and, at times, hail which are so common in the Midwest. Yet I’ve always marveled at these awesome displays of God’s power. Brilliant blue-white flashes streaking across the night sky accompanied by rolling booms and sudden claps of thunder—a breathtaking display of power lighting up summer nights with a far greater majesty than man-made fireworks could ever produce.
During daytime thunderstorms, however, we often see a very different, though still majestic display of His power beautiful rainbows created by sunlight shining through countless billions of tiny raindrops, displayed against a backdrop of dark, towering thunderheads. Each one of the bow’s gorgeous colors signifies much more than God’s covenant mercy in Noah’s day. They present a lovely reminder of the innumerable glories of our Lord Jesus Christ very God and perfect Man illuminated by the light from heaven shining against the dark clouds of man’s sin.
God is “light” and “love” (1 John 1:5; 4:8) and nature is but one stage upon which these divine qualities are displayed. As divine light shines through the clouds and rain of life’s storms, the glories of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ glisten in splendor to remind the weary heart that “His compassions fail not. They are new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-23). The rain and clouds of trial and adversity merely serve to display and enhance those glories which shine out from the risen Son of God.
In like manner, our marriages, whether enjoying balmy days and soft breezes or enduring stormy nights of trial and testings, may still always display the beauty and glory of love. The garden of spices (picturing the joys and delights of marriage) in the Song of Songs provided just such a display, whether the pleasant south wind was softly blowing or the cold, harsh north wind howled (see chapter 4:12-16). In every condition of life, love’s fragrance flowed out of that beautiful garden of delight.
If the wonderful garden of marriage is to thrive and blossom, sending out a grand, colorful display of the glories of love between husband and wife (no matter how dark the circumstances), the conduct of each must be directed by God’s light and founded in His love. In order to send forth love’s sweet fragrance on every occasion, husbands and wives must act before God in every detail of their relationship with love for one another as the motivation for every action.
“Love is strong as death.... Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned” (Song of Sol. 8:6-7).
“By love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). “[Love suffers] long and is kind” (1 Cor. 13:4). “Love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Ed.