June 21, 2009 – A Promise Kept

Yesterday, June 21, was Father’s Day. It was a time of appreciation for Dads. But yesterday was also the summer solstice. While this date holds significance for various pagan and cultic groups, it is also an important date for Christians to remember. The beginning of each of the four seasons should be a reminder to you that God keeps his promises. With the beginning of each new season, God is keeping the promise he made to Noah for all mankind. After the destruction of the Flood, God made a promise that the seasons would continue as long as the earth endures. Even though man is evil, God promises he will never again destroy all living creatures. Here is the promise as stated in Genesis 8:22:

As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease.

Praise God for his continual faithfulness to his Word!

Here is the way this promise looks from a bit more technical perspective. Today, the Northern Hemisphere will have less sunlight than yesterday, because the sun has started its march southward. This movement of the sun in the sky actually occurs because of the movement of the earth around the sun. According to God’s plan the earth is tilted 23 ½ degrees on its axis. As the earth revolves around the sun, the northern point of the axis, the North Pole, points toward the sun from December 21 through June 21. The summer solstice is the time when the sun reaches its most northern point in the sky and then begins its journey back towards the equator. It will reach the equator in September and then continue on until the Tropic of Capricorn is reached, next December. During this time the North Pole points away from the sun and the South Pole then has its six months of pointing towards the sun. Then the sun again turns north towards the equator in March and finally reaches the Tropic of Cancer again next June.

It is the promise of God that maintains this delicate cycle. It is the will of God that determined the tilt of the earth’s axis at 23 ½ degrees. This precise tilt is why we have our four seasons. So, the changing of the seasons is a time for rejoicing and gratitude. God continues to keep his promise. This means that you don’t have to be concerned about some the programs on television that claim the earth could be flooded by the impact of a giant asteroid in the ocean, which would wipe out all life. God has promised that this will not happen. Neither will unending summers occur. God will maintain the seasons as long as he as determined for earth to continue. Life is not random. God is in control.

Remind your children about God’s faithfulness in bringing each season, year after year. Take a moment to thank God that you can trust his Word. Each season you see his plan at work and his faithfulness displayed!