"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 | |||
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Daylight Saving Time | |||
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It's a happy coincidence and not by design that this coming
Sunday, March 14, on which I months ago planned to preach from Joshua 10,
turns out to be "Spring Forward Day." Saturday night before bed
we all turn our clocks ahead an hour, thereby losing an hour of sleep,
but gaining over the spring, summer and much of the fall an hour longer
of daylight in the evenings. The story from Joshua at the beginning of chapter 10 is of course the Lord holding the sun still while Israel finished its victory over an Amorite coalition of several kings. There the extension of daylight appears to have been not just a single hour, but perhaps about twelve hours, the length of a "day" as ancient people typically used the word (to mean the length of daylight hours). Perhaps the first question that arises for modern readers of Joshua 10 regards the scientific feasibility of the miracle. We can obviously quibble about the language which has the sun standing still, when modern astronomy has taught us that it is the earth which turns only making the sun appear to move through the sky. And there are deeper questions about whether events contrary to the course of nature are possible. But the Bible and traditional Christianity are rooted in belief in a God who is able to and has chosen to break into the natural order and bring about events of which natural agents are not capable. Part of the wonder of Joshua and the sun is the awesome extent of God's capability in relation to natural powers. It's no surprise that the God who can stop the sun can also raise the dead. It's also good to point out some of the silly things believers have said over the past 100 years or so about the miracle of Joshua 10. Circulating around the Internet you can find reports that a 24 hour gap in astronomical history has been found by astronomers, NASA computers and the like. The gap is supposedly explained by Joshua's long day. Those stories are all nonsense and probably all stem back to a book by C. A. Totten, who briefly taught military science at Yale in the 19th century. His book starts with the absurd assumption that one can calculate the date and day of the week of creation and goes from there to further nonsense like a not-quite 24 hour gap caused by the sun standing still for Joshua. You can find a good accounting of all the silliness here: http://www.reasons.org/controversial-topics/joshuas-long-day/joshuas-long-day-and-nasa-computers-story-true Much better then a bogus apologetic based on pseudo-science is the straightforwardly allegorical interpretation of Origen who sees the battles of Joshua as symbols of spiritual warfare with evil and then interprets the long day as a sign of God's extension of the opportunity for salvation (see II Peter 3:9). We share the light of Christ with all who might believe in the long day given to us by His resurrection. We live in a long, long daylight saving time as God brings into His kingdom and saves "the full measure" of all who will believe. Like the trusty Israelite warriors kept at their battle until the long day was ended and all was complete, may you and I keep at the posts where God has placed us until the present day is ended and the Sun of Righteousness rises again on a new and eternal Day. | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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