TLIC DAILY. DAY 16. JANUARY 16: MY BOW.

THINK TOGETHER

Have you ever seen a rainbow? Do you know what a rainbow means?

READ TOGETHER

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God sin entered into the world. The book of Genesis tells us that things got so bad that God had to send a flood to destroy all the wicked people on earth. Why? Because God’s perfection means that he can’t just let sin go unpunished. But God is also a very loving and forgiving God. That’s why he chose Noah to build an ark to save all that would trust in God. Sadly, only Noah and his family went onto the ark and were saved from the flood.

After the flood God spoke to Noah again. But this time he didn’t talk about judgment or punishment, he talked about his mercy. Do you know what mercy is? Mercy is when we don’t get punished the way we deserve. Can you hear God’s mercy spoken to Noah in these words:

Genesis 9:11-13. ¹¹never again… shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant…¹³ I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 

The flood didn’t stop sin did it? After the flood Noah sinned, and his kids sinned, and their kids sinned, and so on, and so on, until today when you sin, and I sin, and everyone still sins. But God promised that he would deal with our sin in a very different way. And the rainbow is the sign. Read verse 13 again.

Notice it doesn’t say “rainbow.” It just says “bow.” What is a bow? It is a weapon – like a bow and arrow. Have you ever seen a bow and arrow? Which way do you point a bow and arrow? You point it AWAY from yourself and toward your target. But which way did God point his bow (his rainbow). That’s right. He pointed it at himself. Why? Because God knows that he will finally punish every sin when Jesus dies on the cross. God will punish himself for our sins. He will point his weapon at himself and die so that we don’t have to. That’s how much he loves us!

Because of Jesus we don’t have to be punished for our sins.

With Jesus we can know that God is not mad at us.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Find or draw pictures of rainbows together. Notice which way the bow points!

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus, thank you for taking my punishment on the cross. Help me to trust that God is not mad at me and that he loves me no matter what. Amen.