The Sun Is Moving

T

he window in my study faces east.  Each morning I sit at my desk and watch the sun rise over the houses in the neighborhood.  It is a peaceful time of day.  There is little movement, little noise, and very few people are up and milling about.  Slowly the sky turns from a velvety black to a deep shade of purple.  The first streams of light herald the approaching arrival of the sun and streaks of orange and yellow splash across the sky as the sun makes his entrance.  It is a spectacular sight—one without parallel and God does it every morning!

For the past several months I have noticed that with each sunrise, the sun moves just a bit further toward the north.  Since December, it has moved a good distance across the sky and on the 21^st of next month it will reach its most northern position.  At that time, it will start its long trek to the south, reaching its most southern point on December 21^st.  We use these two days to mark the beginning of summer and the beginning of winter respectively.  But the sun never stands still and continues its dance across the sky.

Now for those scientific types among you, you are well aware that the sun itself is not moving.  The movement of our planet along with its slight tilt gives the appearance of the sun’s displacement from north to south.  However, from our perspective, the sun does indeed seem to move, not only across the sky on a daily basis, but also across the sky throughout the year.  While we plough at breakneck speed through our days, we take little or no notice of this great light in the sky except to complain about the heat.  We never give it a moment’s thought or stop in awe at the immense power of that light nor the one who created it.

But in the book of Joshua there is a passage that reminds us just how powerful, just how awesome, and just how wonderful our God is.  Joshua 10:12-14 records the following miraculous occurrence: “On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon." So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!”

Wouldn’t you have loved to have seen that!  I love the last two sentences in this passage.  There never had been a day like that in history.  Notice that God listened to a man, Joshua, and did what he asked.  Doesn’t that make you stop and think what kind of relationship Joshua had with the Lord?  Doesn’t it make you stop and reflect upon your own relationship with Him?  On that day, God listened to Joshua and He who made the sun, the moon, and all there is fought for Israel.  Is the one who causes the sun to move and stand still fighting for you today?  If you belong to Him, its as sure as sunrise and sunset!  Have a great day!