Seasons

We are on a journey to Zion, God’s dwelling place, the seat of his rule, our future home.

We encounter mountains, steep hills laid with slippery slopes and gravelly dirt roads. We face the ever-present elements of our ever-changing environment. But God has made a promise: that which rules the day and that which rules the night shall not harm us. For our Father’s intent is to gather us, his people, out of the temporal — marked and measured by the sun and moon — into the eternal bliss of his light and glory. We are a destined people destined for good.

In today’s scripture we can understand how the sun may harm us, beating down on us, causing dehydration and exhaustion. We can even reason out how the moon may bring fear to people — that it may cause lunacy or make for a lunatic. But can I propose that verse six of this psalm may be alluding to something deeper than the physical attributes or effects of the sun and moon? If we search deeper, we will see what they represent – their significance, their story.

The sun and the moon were created to mark out the now, the temporal, to show us that we are set in time; but they also serve to elevate our eyes to the One beyond time, the Creator of time itself. We are to understand that God, who created the sun, moon, and stars, sits above time and rules over it, and comes to us in gentleness and lowliness to walk with us through our seasons of life. We change; we grow. We revert, we triumph, we fail; but in every season, through every year, even in the daily, God is the proximate sovereign, ruling from his holy habitation.

And not only that, he is at our right hand – near and accessible. He is our covering, our shade, the one who guards us day and night. He is the one who satisfies our thirsty and weary souls. He is the one who keeps us sane when we fear losing sanity. He is our Rescuer and Keeper, our Helper and Strength, the one who delivers us and protects us. If God is for us, who then can be against us?

When these “days of sorrow” end and we look back over our lives, we will see that he was with us always along the way. At our child’s birth, at our wedding, at our spouse’s passing, during that college exam or first date, in the hurt and in the sorrow, both day and night, through every season of our lives — we will see and we will know that the One standing before us was always standing with us. Oh, what a day of glory that will be!