Scripture: (Josh 10:12-13 NKJV) Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." {13} So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge Upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
Observation: One of the most powerful miracles ever had just taken place after Joshua prayed that the sun would stand still; it is recorded that the sun indeed stood still for about a day. Then the kings that had joined to try to defeat Israel were captured and executed, and later buried. These wholesale destructions of entire cities is what has caused some to question God and even to come to be afraid of or bitter toward Him. We need to consider several things:
1. Israel had no home, and God wanted to provide them with a home of their own where they could live in peace and worship Him and become a witness to the whole world.
2. These nations had become so depraved by sin that their corrupting influence was not only spreading, but it could, and in some cases did, become a hindrance, a temptation, and a stumbling block to God’s people.
3. The way these people dealt with their own was dehumanizing and deadly. They had temple prostitutes, the women were treated as objects to abuse and mistreat, children were abused and at times offered to idols; God could not permit this abuse on the innocent to go on forever – or until they’d destroy themselves, but in the mean time generations of innocent people would suffer.
4. Without the presence of Israel as a nation, the world was rapidly becoming like the world before the flood, and even though Israel was not always faithful to God, its presence gave the rest of the world an opportunity to know God and gave them a lease on life.
In reality, these destructions were more an act of mercy than an act of anger on the part of God. Yes, He was angry with those nations and peoples, but yet they were also His children and by putting an end to their wickedness God was saving countless others yet unborn.
Application: In thinking about the sun standing still, I just recently I received an e-mail with a story (whether it is true or not, I don’t know), about the time when NASA scientists were working on plans for future launches when they ran into a problem. They entered all the information into the computer, but the computer could not compute correctly, it gave an error message, and the NASA people could not find out what the problem was, all they knew was that there was one day and about forty minutes missing that they could not account for. Apparently a Christian among them told them about this event, they changed their calculations and sure enough, they were only missing about forty minutes. Then the Christian told them of the time when King Hezekiah asked for a sign that he would be healed, and the sun went back what would be the equivalent of . . . forty minutes. Once that time was also accounted for, their calculations matched perfectly.
These stories remind me that God’s miraculous power on our behalf is still available to us as families and as couples. We may not get the sun to stand still, but maybe he will make the time that we have more manageable so we can spend time learning about Him and worshiping Him, time together as families, time with our children, time for work, time for leisure, time to evangelize, time to rest. And all along, God also helps us to deal with those things that are destroying our families – negative influences on our children, not spending enough time together, not spending enough time with God in prayer and for God in praise, not spending enough time to study His word, not spending enough time working for the salvation of others. We don’t need the miracle of more time; what we need is the miracle of learning how to manage properly the time that God already gives us every day. Much like we don’t understand how when we return God’s tithe we seem to have more than before, so when we dedicate our time to Him, He can help us accomplish more in the time we have than if we tried to manage it ourselves, without Him in it.
A Prayer You May Say: Father, thank You for the time You give us. Help us to manage it wisely for You and others.
Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
