Creation Grace: Dawn and the Sun

The sun comes up to the left of my driveway. As I leave for work and head down the driveway and stop to look left for traffic, I often see the first rays peeking up over the hill. In spring, the sun shines through the blossoming trees, illuminating them so they look like fiery snowflakes.



The Lord made the sun for His own good pleasure and for us as a useful time-marking tool



"And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day." (Genesis 1:14-19)



At one point He made the sun stand still:



"And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day." (Joshua 10:13)



At another point He made the sun go backwards ten steps:



"And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz." (2 Kings 20:9-11)



And at a still future point, He will blink out the sun entirely:



"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken". (Matthew 24:29)


Our Lord is Lord of Creation! This is who we worship:



"For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other." (Isaiah 45:18)