Desecrating the symbol of God’s faithfulness
Growing up as a child somewhere in the Eastern Region of Ghana (West Africa), I loved seeing the rainbow because of its colourful nature. Every now and then after a heavy downpour, the rainbow would shoot across the sky beautifully. I was beside myself with glee when we were taught to sing about the seven colours of the rainbow in school… Seven colours in all rainbows: orange and blue, yellow and green, violet and red, and indigo.
Later on, when I was a little bit older, my dad narrated to us (me and my siblings) the story of Noah and the ark from the Bible; how God destroyed the inhabitants of the earth with floodwaters due to their disobedience and wickedness but spared Noah and his family due to his obedience and righteousness. After the flood, God established a covenant with Noah and his descendants, saying that he would never destroy the earth again by floodwaters, with the rainbow as the symbol of this covenant. Knowing the origin of the rainbow, my appreciation of it moved beyond its aesthetics to thankfulness to God for sparing us from His wrath.
Eventually, when I was old enough to explore the Bible by myself, I explored the story of Noah and the ark. The rainbow aspect of the story made me conclude that God is faithful beyond any reasonable doubt. This is because He has kept the promise he made to Noah thousands of years ago even after Noah’s death. He even goes further to remind us (Noah’s descendants) about the covenant and His desire to keep it by making the rainbow appear in the sky occasionally. So every time I see the rainbow in the sky, I admire it with some feeling of nostalgia as if I was there when the covenant was being made with Noah. To me, the rainbow is a symbol of God’s faithfulness not only to Noah but to all mankind and, therefore, should be treated with dignity and admiration.
It is, therefore, surprising that somewhere along the line I decided to distance myself from this great token of God’s faithfulness; I did not want to have anything to do with the rainbow anymore. Well, let me tell you why I distanced myself from the rainbow, something that I dearly admired.
It all began when the alphabet community (LGBTQIA+++), the community whose acronym never ends, decided to adopt the rainbow as its symbol for a reason which has nothing to do with the faithfulness of God. According to them, the colours of the rainbow reflect the diversity of the community. I consider this step as an affront to the God of the Bible who frowns on homosexuality and the immorality that the LGBTQIA community espouses (Leviticus 20:13; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:9). Aside from that, it is a blatant desecration of the symbol of God’s faithfulness. It is even an irony that of all the symbols the community could have chosen, it rather settled on a symbol that came into existence after God destroyed the earth because of sin (including the sins that the LGBTQIA community embraces without shame).
In all this though, God’s faithfulness keeps on shining even in the dark places. God reminded me recently about not giving up on the symbol of His faithfulness. Since the rainbow is a great reminder about the faithfulness of God, we need to hold on to it in order to remember His faithfulness. It has always been a symbol of God’s faithfulness to mankind and that it shall remain. Nevertheless, it also serves as a constant reminder that our God is not only love but also a just judge, who will not close His eyes to evil. Of course He has promised not to destroy the earth again with floodwaters, but assuredly He will destroy it and the wicked with fire (2 Peter 3:10; Malachi 4:1; Revelation 21:8). He is true to His word and will, therefore, fulfill this promise too. The only way to escape the coming wrath of God is to turn from our wicked ways and repent.
