Ever stop to consider....

Do you take for granted things like the consistency of the sunrise or the predictability of the phases of the moon?  Most of us probably do unless we make our living predicting something based on their predictability.  If we were to stop for just a couple of minutes and consider what the scriptures declare about the sun and moon, we might just be amazed all over again at the next sunrise, sunset, and the phases of the moon!  Why?  They are simply doing what they were designed to do - to keep telling the wonders of God and declaring boldly what he has done!  They declare his creative power and his ability to sustain all things with nothing more than the sound of his voice!  This should give us cause to pause for just a few moments to consider his greatness and to bask in his brilliance!

The heavens keep telling the wonders of God, and the skies declare what he has done.   Each day informs the following day; each night announces to the next.   They don’t speak a word, and there is never the sound of a voice.  Yet their message reaches all the earth, and it travels around the world.  In the heavens a tent is set up for the sun.  It rises like a bridegroom and gets ready like a hero eager to run a race.  It travels all the way across the sky.  Nothing hides from its heat. (Psalm 19:1-6 CEV)

When we think of the sun and the moon, we are to consider them as "declarations" of God's continued care for each of us.  Without a word, the sun sets and the moon takes its place in the sky.  Without a sound, the sun begins the slow journey from somewhere below the horizon into the majesty of the sky above.  In the passage of hours, it finds itself lingering just along the opposite horizon, giving that final glow of daylight as the moon sets about the path it will keep during those ensuing nighttime hours.  No announcement is heard - no words are spoken - yet the brilliance of the sun's brightness and the faithfulness of the moon's passage tell of the faithfulness of our God.

Scripture tells us if we don't tell of his faithfulness, even nature will declare it.  The message we declare is heralded by the brightness of day and the heralding of the night hours.  The world is without excuse when it comes to knowing there is a God - for even the things we take so much for granted declare his faithfulness and grace.  Without the sun, we would be launched into perpetual darkness and frigid temperatures.  Without the brilliance of those rays beating down on plants below, the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen would never occur.  Apart from their faithful coming and going, all life as we know it would cease to follow its pattern of life.  Even us!

We take for granted things which God has taken so much care to prepare and preserve for our well-being.  I am not a "save the whales" or "stop hunting the seals" kind of girl, nor do I hug trees and tell make-up manufacturers to stop killing the animals.  I do have an appreciation for the majesty of what God has created and the tremendous amount of care he put into the handiwork each object of his creative power exhibits.  Whether it is you or I that is being considered as his handiwork, or the tree fully in bloom with magnificent magnolia blooms filling the air with their sweet smell, or the seeming ease at which the humpback whale rises from the depths below - God is declared to be GOD in all of these things.

Stop to consider these wonders now and again.  As you do, think a little deeper into the mystery of these objects.  We don't really know what keeps the sun and moon in their places in the skies above, although scientists have studied their existence and course for years and years.  We don't really know how they came to be, although scripture declares clearly their existence is clearly from God's hand - created from nothing - something we cannot comprehend with our finite minds.  

I was pondering how consistent the sun is in coming and going every day.  Some days reveal the passage of those bright rays in shorter spans than others, depending upon the time of year we observe their presence.  Maybe this is because God wants us to recognize there are times when we need to bring rest to the earth and seasons when productive growth are to occur.  Maybe this is symbolic of how we go through seasons of tremendous growth, followed by what seems like times of coolness and barrenness.  Those aren't times of barrenness my friends - they are times of preparation - for in those moments when the days seem darker, our hearts are being prepared for the returning of the brilliance of those productive seasons soon to break upon the horizon of our lives!

No announcement is necessary for the sun to take its place high above us - but know this - God's care is behind the dependability of its rising and setting!  Just as consistent as he is with the care he takes in arranging for the sun to take its course high above us, his care over our lives may be depended upon because his carefulness over our lives and the course we take within them is for more important to him!  Just sayin!