The period of forty days indicates that our troubles do not vanish overnight. We need to build our own resiliency as we face the trials in our lives. This is one of the reasons to observe the forty days of Lent. Sadly, the tribulations that we face in life can often last for much more than forty days. They are not merely a symbolic battle, but a long-term spiritual war that can devastate us if we do not rely on God to help us through it.
I believe that He will see us through the difficult times that seem to crush down upon us. We will come through them forged into something new, ready to proclaim our own new covenant with God. For this, God would have us joining Him when looking at the gathering clouds to find the rainbow within them.