WHAT IS A RAINBOW?
A rainbow is made when beams of light from the sun fall on raindrops at a certain angle. This separates the colours of sunlight into seven colours. Do you know what these colours are?
They are stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet and they form a beautiful sight as the rays of the sun merge with the droplets of rain.
Did you know that these seven colours are always in the same order and never change?
They are always in a shape of an arc and are usually seen after a rain shower. Another interesting fact is that the intensity of the colours depends on the size of the droplets of water.
So the bigger the drops of rain, the brighter the colours are!
Have you ever heard of the famous scientist Isaac Newton? Well he was the one who discovered that the sunlight has to strike the droplets of rain at exactly 42 degrees in order for the rainbow to be formed so we can see it.
Another interesting fact is that when you see a rainbow, the sun is always behind you and the rain is always in front of you!
Have you ever tried to reach a rainbow?
It is impossible because as you start walking towards it, it will always seem to move further away.
There is a story in the Bible which mentions a rainbow and it is the story of Noah and the Ark.
Noah obeyed God and did exactly what he was told to do.
You can read all about Noah and the Ark in Genesis Chapters 6 to 8.
God told Noah to build a big boat, called an Ark, and He told Noah exactly how to do it. The Ark was to be 450 ft. (137 m) long, 75 ft. (23 m) wide and 45 ft. (14 m) high. It was to have three decks or floors and be divided into rooms and it was to have a door in the side. It took Noah over 70 years to build the Ark!
Can you imagine working so long to build something? Well he did it and when he was finished, God told him to find two of every kind of animal and bird and take them into the Ark. He also had to take enough food for all the animals and enough food for his family.
Noah was 600 years old by the time everything was ready. God told Noah to go into the ark with his wife, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives.
Then it started to rain. It rained without stopping for forty days and nights! The water got so deep that even the mountains were covered. But the Ark floated on top of the flood waters and the people and animals in the Ark were safe.
Eventually it stopped raining and the waters began to go away. So that Noah could find out if it was safe to get out of the Ark, he allowed a Dove to fly off and waited for it to return. When it did finally return it had an Olive Branch in its mouth.
So Noah knew that the waters were almost gone. He waited another 7 days and sent the Dove out again, but this time the Dove did not come back, so Noah knew then that the rain had dried up and that he and his family and all the animals could leave the Ark.
After this God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to replenish the earth.
God then told Noah that He promised never again would there be another flood, and to seal this promise God set a rainbow in the clouds as a reminder.
So every time we see a rainbow in the sky, we are to remember God’s promise.
We must also remember that God loves us and that it pleases Him when we are obedient.
By the way, do you recall me saying at the beginning of this booklet that the colours of the rainbow are always in the same order?
Here is an easy and quick way of remembering them:
RICHARD OF YORK GREW BEANS IN VENICE
Richard RED
Of ORANGE
York YELLOW
Grew GREEN
Beans BLUE
In INDIGO
Venice VIOLET
I hope you have enjoyed this story. It tells us so much about ourselves and why we need Jesus in our lives.
So until next time, keep looking to Jesus.
He is always in front of you – just like the rainbow!