Psalm 113:3 “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!”
Did you know there are more than 100 verses in the Bible talking about the sun, sunrises, sunsets, and even a day when the sun stool still! (Read about that day in Joshua 10). God knew that we needed light upon Earth to be able to function. Bumping around in the dark all the time would not be very productive.
During the months of this pandemic, many of us have had changes develop and then change again, almost daily. This has affected our household schedules, our children’s schooling, church functions, many daily activities, and job requirements. My job changed to a “work from home” job for a few weeks. That was a challenge for me as someone that loves to go out and see and talk with the staff that I work with at the hospital.
When I started back to the office it was initially one day a week, but it made me realize one thing that I had been missing for those previous few weeks. The beautiful sunrises that I witnessed as I drove toward the hospital around 6 AM were really a part of my day that I took for granted. It opened my eyes to the many different varieties of sunrises. One week I would see rays peek out from under the clouds and shine luminous light of reds, pinks, and violets onto the earth. Some weeks the rays would shine so brightly into the sky without any clouds around displaying beautiful colors of orange, yellow, and red. Weeks full of gloominess and rain clouds made it difficult or usually impossible to see the sunrise into the sky.
So, the weeks I missed the sunrises or the gloomy days when the sun was not seen; does that mean the sun was not there? Of course not. The rotation of Earth for the nearly 24 hours of a day allows us to witness the sunrises (and sunsets) from our perspective. Meanwhile, Earth at the same time is orbiting around the sun, and NOT the sun orbiting around Earth. The sun is the center of our solar system. We travel (rotate) back to the sun, the sun does not travel back to us.
This concept can also be applied to the Son of God. When we feel like we are far away, alone, or like He has left us; the fact is that He is always here. He is the constant. It may seem like He is hidden from view, but He is always there. Do you or I sometimes want Him to revolve around us instead of us revolving around Him? Just like the sun is the center of the solar system, the Son should be the center of our lives.
The next time you see a breath-taking sunrise or sunset – take the time to thank the Son for the gift of all He has given you. Praise the Lord from sunrise until sunset! I try and not take these gorgeous moments for granted anymore, but as life returns to “more normal” I am sure there will be days I rush to work and barely pay attention. I pray that I can slow down, appreciate the sunrises, and praise God for the beautiful way He reminds us that the Son is always there for us. Always there!
-Liz Flaker