Sun-speech

July 2018

When you feel the sun beating down on your head what do you think about?  Barbecues and beer?  Watering the garden?  Or how it is possible for a ball that is 93 million miles away to feel so hot?

King David lived in Israel and knew the heat of the sun, not our weak Cumbrian sun but “the cloudless, blinding, tyrannous rays hammering the hills, searching every cranny” (CS Lewis).  He wrote a song that is half about the sun and half about the rule of God – because those two are related.  From the perspective of earth the sun is the chief ruler in the heavens but it is also telling us about the God who rules from heaven.

According to David’s song (Psalm 19) the rule of the sun is perfect and powerful.  Each day it appears again like a radiant bridegroom beaming with wedding day joy, or like a champion athlete leaping out of bed, eager to run for victory.  The sun never fails to rise; it’s not on a Northern Rail timetable but is always at the right place at the right time.  Its life-giving rays light every corner; its dangerous heat pierces everywhere.

God’s rule is the same; perfect and powerful.  David is saying that nothing is hidden from the piercing heat of God’s Word – all that he has spoken in the Bible is blindingly pure and truthful.   But, unless you stand against him, you also find that his Word is life-giving warmth, dependable and “sweeter than honey”.  Just as the sun can both scorch the ground and cause seeds to spring to life, David knew that God’s Word had both exposed the rottenness in his heart and showed him God’s gracious willingness to forgive and restore.

I hope that there are many days this summer when you feel the power of the sun - and that you will let that immense power speak to you of God whose powerful and perfect Word rules all.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Sincerely

Graham Burrows