The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith

The Heavens Declare

While traveling south on U.S 395 earlier this week, God gave me a magnificent teachable moment.

We left Susanville shortly after 6 A.M. and could see a salmon-colored aura over a small area of mountain to the East. As we traveled it became bigger and eventually the sun should have peaked out from behind the mountain. But there were clouds rolling over the mountains like flowing sheep’s wool in the spot we were at that point. All we could see of the sun was a glorious pink and gold edge across the top of the clouds. Its pink light reflected on any surface facing it from the mountains on the West side of the valley.

At the same time the moon, full and close enough to earth to look huge in the dawn sky, was still quite high in the heavens. Across the valley from the rising sun, it was hidden behind the mountains for a while. But then it seemed to travel across the top of the lower range. Slashed at an angle by the contours of the mountain, half the mountain was still in shadow and the other half in the pink glow of the sun when an amazing effect occurred. Above the side with the pink light on it was the full moon in a depression that made it appear to be sitting on the top of the mountain with no part of it hidden.

It only lasted a few seconds before our travel trajectory took the moon out of our sight and behind the mountain again. I was in awe as I watched both the sun rising and the moon going down at the same time. The moon is not always in our view of the sky at the same time as the sun. And when it is, it is often not so easy to see because of the brilliance of the sun.

For me, this moment of juxtaposition prompted a similar reaction to that of David when he wrote, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Ps. 19:1).

Genesis 1:14-18 gives the sequence of God’s creation of the heavens:

And God said,” Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so.  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.”

The sun, the moon, and the seasons all revolve in perfect order. When God promised to never again curse the ground nor to kill every living thing in the whole world again, because of human evil, He also promised, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). All glory be to God who keeps His promises and whose creation, especially the heavens, indeed affirms His glory in every way!

 

Prayer Request: Like his first time, Dan tolerated his infusion last Thursday well. His next one will be on Wednesday, December 13, because Dr. Shields will not be available Thursday. This will be Dan’s third infusion and every three times he will see the doctor first instead of the nurse practitioner. Please continue to pray for Dan’s stamina. His gains on our vacation disappeared quickly with a few days of work.

 

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