Sunrise

 

My favorite time of day (other than cocktail hour) is sunrise. In the hot summer, I walk at White Rock Lake, arriving before dawn. When it’s colder, I nestle in my prayer chair and watch the sunrise from my east-facing window.

Every sunrise is a little different. On cloudless days, the brilliant sun is too bright to look at. The best sunrises are when there are clouds and dust in the air to create breathtaking colors from deep purple to pale pink. Sometimes the sun is as bright red as a stoplight. My favorite is when it emerges as a bright rosy orange sphere. Some days the clouds are just too thick for the rising sun to break through.

As we transition from one calendar year to the next, it seems appropriate to spiritualize the sunrise. I’m not the first to do so. Here are some wonderful Bible verses that mention the sun.

2 Samuel 23:3-4, the last words of David: “When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.”

Psalm 19:1, 5-6: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands…. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Psalm 84:11: For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Proverbs 4:18: The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Ecclesiastes 11:7: Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. (The word “sun” appears 32 times in Ecclesiastes.)

Malachi 4:2: But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.

And I’m not the first to make a connection with the sunrise and God’s constancy. We all have days of brightness and good cheer, when God’s presence is almost too brilliant to gaze at. Those gorgeous purple and orange colors that are so pleasing to the eye remind us of God’s tender, lavish care for His earth and His creatures.

Then there is the metaphor of the thick, impervious clouds. As the year 2020 closes out, my own vision is clouded with anxiety over events around me—the political situation, the continuing COVID crisis and its toll on the economy as well as on people’s lives. I’m also, as so many people are, deeply troubled about the well-being of someone I love. It’s a cold, dark, fearful time and place.

Still, each day’s rising sun assures us that God is still on His throne. Even when we can’t see the sunrise through the clouds, we know it’s there and that sooner or later, it will rise in all its brilliance. God promises His presence, and the ever-rising sun gives us His reassurance.