Seventh-day Adventist® Church

Summer solstice today. Longest day of the year and all that. Not always on the 21st, occasionally, like today, on the 20th. It is the day with the longest sunlight.

In Joshua 10 there is recorded a strange phenomenon; the day the sun stood still.
12 On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.

God often used natural forces to achieve an outcome. In the previous verse it describes how the Amorites were chased by the Israelites, and a hail storm inflicted large casualties on them. "The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword." God parted the sea as an escape route for the Israelites running from the Egyptians. As the sea refilled the pathway, the water drowned all the pursuers. 

So in the verses above, God made the sun stand still. 

I heard a story today of a mother who made her two year old son sit still, all day, every day. She is an addict. A Community Chaplain knocked on her door. After the pleasantries, the chaplain offered to pray with the mother. She disclosed her despair. She had been to her doctor. He had recognised a problem. The social services got involved. Now she waved the letter telling her they were coming to take her son away. All the boy knew how to do was sit in the corner, silently. She had not been a good mother. But in seeking help for her condition, the mother was facing separation from her son.

The community chaplain prayed specifically for the decision to be revoked; rehabilitation to be offered to the mother, and the son to remain with his mother. 

The following Sabbath morning, midway through the morning church service, the mother tore into the room waving a letter. She declared she wanted to be baptised! For her God had become real in her life. The social services had fulfilled the prayer request. She was offered rehab and could retain her son. 

I wonder what God wants to do in our lives if we only stood still, sought His presence, and asked?

-Pr Nathan Stickland