Since we are in our "Wayback Machine," how about 1978?  Burt Reynolds (now of Dukes of Hazzard fame) starred in "The End," a dark slapstick humor movie with a stereotypical "Lets Make a Deal" scene.² Burts character has only six months to live. Instead of waiting to the end, he decides to commit suicide by swimming as far into the ocean as he can and then just let himself sink under the surface once exhausted.

Sinking into the depths below he looks up and suddenly chickens out. Kicking to the surface he screams, "I want to live! I want to live!" In other words, "I want a new deal."

In absolute desperation he begins swimming toward land but it is clearly to far. He will never make it. Suddenly Burt thinks of God . . . (It helps the stereotyped comedy and imagery to know that Dom DeLuise is cast as God). God can help! Lets Make a Deal begins!

Burt begins making promises, more exaggerated with every painstaking stroke. "I promise to obey the Ten Commandments."

He realizes he doesnt even know what they all are. "I promise to learn them all."

In a panic he sweetens the deal, "Lord, if you get me out of this, I will give you 80% of everything I have."

The once desperate, drowning man makes it a little further, feels a little stronger and his deal begins to modify. "50% Lord! Im talking gross!"

Soon he can see the shoreline, "Lord, if you help me to get to shore alive I will give you 10% of all my earnings."

He soon sees he will make it as his feet touch the sand beneath the waves, "Well, Lord, lets just forget about what I said before. I think I can make it from here on my own."

Sound familiar? Every day people make deals with God. And like Burt in the movie, every day just as many people want a new deal with God. Why? We might be well intentioned at the moment, but as Burt demonstrates even the best intentions change as motivation fades. This is where God is different. His motivation never changes, and God has the power to do what he promises.

When God makes a deal he doesnt take it back. You can rest in that fact. In Genesis  God makes this deal, this covenant of promise; I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth. Genesis 9:13 (NLT)

The rainbow is a sign - a reminder to both man and God of Gods promise. While many of our English translations say "rainbow," the Hebrew had no special word for "rainbow." The word is simply the word "bow" referring to the bow of an archer, a warriors bow.

During the flood God is seen as a raging warrior. After the flood God hangs his bow in the clouds as a warrior who returns from fighting the enemy returns to his home and hangs his bow on the wall. The hanging bow in the home is reminder of peace, love, hope, security. After the flood God hangs his bow in the clouds.

When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will be seen in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with everything that lives. Never again will there be a flood that will destroy all life. Genesis 9:14-15 (NLT) Gods bow hung in the clouds is a reminder to God of his promise, the deal he has made. God is not our enemy, but our friend. When we see the rainbow it is our reminder of Gods love and our security as we like Noah put our trust in God.

In the New Testament - the New Covenant - the New Promise, God makes another deal a better deal for you and I. When we share communion, the Lords Table together it is a visible sign, a reminder that Jesus himself gave to us. He took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." After supper he took another cup of wine and said, "This wine is the token of God's new covenant to save you-an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you. Luke 22:19-20 (NLT)

Communion reminds us of Gods love demonstrated when Jesus hung on the cross. God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8 (NLT) It is a reminder to find love, healing and security in the promise of the cross where Jesus paid for our sins in full. He personally carried away our sins in his own body on the cross so we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. You have been healed by his wounds! 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)

Like the bow in the sky, the cross of Jesus is a reminder to God that when we trust in Jesus, our sins are forgiven, the debt is cancelled. God . . . . forgave all our sins. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. Colossians 2:13b-14 (NLT)

The cross reminds us that trusting in Jesus we have nothing to fear. God has made a new deal. Because of what Jesus did, we have become friends. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 (NAS) I am so thankful for the reminders God gives of His love and forgiveness. They help me ground my security in Him rather than anything I can do, hope to do and all the things I fail at doing.

Sometimes I am like Wendell Sonny Larson, Burt Reynolds character in "The End." When I am desperate I know how much I need God. The way Noah must have felt when the rain began to fall. But when I am feeling my own strength I tend to trust in myself. Then when I am out in the deep again I realize how foolish I have been and how sinful that attitude really is. Lets make a deal!

I thank you God for your bow in the sky. I thank for the symbols of your body and blood at the communion table. I thank you God for the cross and I thank you for your word a constant reminder that Jesus is my Champion, my Advocate before the justice of God not only for my sin but everyone in the world. I love the encouraging reminder from John, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world. 1 John 2:1-2 (NLT)

I thank you God that when You look at my sin and you see Jesus You hang your bow of justice in the on the wall. I trust in the deal You made. You alone can keep your deal. You alone can save. Help me day by day to trust in Your deal. I want to find my hope, my love, my day to day security not in what I can or cannot do, or deal I make, but in Your deal. I hereby retitle this devo, "Let God Make the Deal." Amen!Glad to be with you in the Word. Pastor Art

• Cool Kids: The picture with the children shows wonderful New Life servants Tiffany and Missy Polido serving in a preschool class where the kids are getting first hand experience building Noah's Ark and learning about his trust in God . . .well we can dream can't we? Beginning at the top in Tiffany's arms and moving clockwise we see Timmy, Justin, Jermie, Sydney, Landon and John Steven. Kids of the Kingdom!
• Cool Site: Lots of People wearing crosses today! Check out The Cross What Does it Mean? Click: http://www.digitracts.com/view_digitract.asp?id=3 
• Key Verse: I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NLT)
• Devo Blog Archives: http://blog.light-cat.com/devo/63/