Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Mar 15th, 2024 The Day The Sun Stood Still

Today’s Passage – Joshua 10 – 12 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – 1 Timothy 1 – 6; Proverbs 15; Psalms 71 – 75)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song –  Deuteronomy 32:4

Read a previous post from this passage – “Face Your Fears“

Read the “0315 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.” – (Joshua 10:13-14)

In Joshua 10 – 12 we have the nation of Israel now inside of the Promised Land, and they are in the process of ridding the land of all of the unwanted tennants. After the Battles of Jericho and Ai, and after the treaty made with the people of Gideon, it became clear to the people of Canaan that Israel was a powerful force and a threat that needed to be taken seriously. The kings of the land joined forces together to fight against Israel. They probably should have just moved out of the area, but instead they came out together to do battle. God, however, is once again with Israel and he defeats these kingdoms easily; but as these people are retreating, Joshua is afraid that the sun would go down before he got to all of them, so he asks the Lord to stop the earth’s rotation, and the sun and moon stand still until all of the enemies are defeated. The Bible says that there has never been a day like this before or since.

Have you ever wished that God would stop time for you? I know there have been many times when I was in school that I have wished that God would speed time up. However, except for this one time in the history of the world, God keeps time clicking away very steadily. The seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennia just seem to fly on by. And the funny thing about time is that once it is gone, you cannot get it back. It seems like yesterday when I was just starting out with my wife and family. It seems like just a few days has gone by since God brought us to Galloway, NJ to be serve at Jersey Shore. Where does the time go? I had all kinds of dreams and visions about what I wanted to do, about where I wanted to be by now, but many of those things never came to pass. There is so much more that I would like to do before I die.

There is one thing that we can learn from this passage of Scripture. It is that time is very precious. It is probably the most valuable thing that we possess, and we really don’t know how much of it we actually have left. We need to make the most of the time that we have left on this earth. What do you have left to finish in your life. What battles are you in the middle of fighting for the Lord. How about your family? Have you given your spouse, or your parents, or your children the time that you would like to have given them. Soon enough, either you or them will be gone forever; at least as far as our time on earth is concerned. Get busy! The sun is beginning to set on many of us.

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” – (Ephesians 5:16)

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” – (Colossians 4:5)

This evening, sometime around 6 PM, take a look outside, and you will see the dusky colors of a setting sun. Night will be right behind it, and soon the day will be over. This is a miniature picture of our lives. Soon, the sun will also set on our lives, and time will be up. What will you leave undone of your goals and dreams? More importantly, what will you have left unfinished of what God has called you to do?