The State of the Sun

This is the lead article from the Slate for this month.

The sun has a bad reputation these days. After all, it’s the sun that has caused record-setting temperatures to scorch the central valley in the past weeks. And it’s the sun that causes dangerous sunburn and skin cancer. With all this bad press, one might get the impression that the sun is a serious enemy to mankind. Is that true? Or is the sun still a gracious gift from God for which we ought to give thanks? What does the Bible say?

The sun was part of a perfect creation. God created the sun as a “greater light to govern the day” (Gen 1:16). He set the sun in the heavens to mark off day and night, seasons and years, and to give light to the earth. The sun provided light and warmth to Adam and Eve, as well as all the plants and animals in the garden of Eden.

But shortly after Adam and Eve fell we see the first evidence of a now imperfect creation. Now the sun was a burden to Adam. God told him, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food” (Gen 3:19). From then on mankind has toiled under the hot sun.

Everything negative that the sun produces is evidence of the sin we inherited from our first parents. When the sun damages our skin, it is evidence that we live in a sinful world. When mid-summer heat causes illness or even death, we know that we’re still in a sinful world. When we hear warnings about global warming (which is difficult to understand because it is explained using statistics from before the world was created), we know that our world is scarred by sin and its consequences.

But did you notice that God has still graciously allowed the sun to shine on our sin-filled world to give it light and warmth? How astounding that God still allows the sun to ripen our fruits and vegetables! He still keeps the seasons in order and through his providence gives everything we need for our bodies and lives.
The fact that the sun continues to rise everyday is evidence of God’s grace. Every new day is a gift of grace for all of us. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Mt 5:45). Every day is a new day for Christians to serve him. It is a new day for unbelievers to come to know him. So each day the sun shows God’s patience with a sinful world. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease” (Gen 8:22).

At the same time as God promises to bless us with the sun, he also promises to protect us from harm. The psalmist writes, “The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night” (Ps 121:5,6). This does not mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us, but rather that we can always trust that our God is carefully watching over us. If the thermometer rises to 113º, it does not mean he is neglecting us.

But it does remind us that this world is not our eternal home. And it causes us to look forward to that home where “They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them” (Is 49:10) and “The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end” (Is 60:19,20).