The Sun Declares God’s Glory

By Stephen Flurry • December 13, 2017

We know a lot about about the sun. In 2010, nasa launched its Solar Dynamics Observatory (sdo). This one satellite collects more data about our sun in a week than the Hubble space telescope generates in a yearfor the rest of the universe, according to Prof. Lucie Green in her book 15 Million Degrees: A Journey to the Center of the Sun. This massive amount of data has vastly expanded our understanding about the sun’s dominance in our solar system.

The Bible also gives us important information about the sun. Notice Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” The universe is actually declaring a message from God! The psalm continues: “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (verses 2-3; Revised Standard Version). Though it is an unspoken message, it becomes loud and clear if only we are willing to open our eyes to see it. Modern scientific instruments like the sdo and Hubble telescope make it possible to more clearly discern these messages from God’s majestic handiwork.

In her book, Green explains that all this new data “has literally expanded our horizons and even shown that the atmosphere of the sun reaches out to a staggering 18 billion kilometers beyond us …”! That’s 120 times farther out than the Earth’s orbit! This means that “we are living in the sun’s atmosphere!” (emphasis added throughout).

Our massively dominant star gives life to planet Earth. “Not only does sunlight allow us to see,” she writes, “but it made our rocky planet habitable for millions of species of animals and plants. It grows our food, it drives our weather, and it can even be utilized to generate electricity to power modern society. Sunlight is amazingly versatile, but above all there is something about sunlight that means it is able to keep us alive. We literally could not live without it.”

There is an amazing spiritual parallel that God’s creation is declaring about the First Commandment. Malachi 4:2 calls Christ the “Sun of righteousness,” and numerous New Testament passages refer to the spiritual light that He brings to this dark world. Just as everything revolves around the sun, we must revolve our lives around God the way our planet does the sun. God must be at the very center of our lives—He must completely dominate our lives the way that the sun dominates our solar system.

Paul wrote in Acts 17:28 that “in him we live, and move, and have our being.” Moses commanded us to love, obey and cleave to God, “for he is thy life, and the length of thy days” (Deuteronomy 30:20).

There are so many lessons that we can draw from studying our great star. The heavens declare God’s great power, and even the way that He orders the universe. If you would like to hear more, you can listen to my Trumpet Daily Radio Show where I delved into more on this inspiring subject.

If you haven’t done so, I’d also encourage you to read Our Awesome Universe Potential by Joel Hilliker. This inspiring booklet will help you to observe the Creator’s handiwork and will give you a universe-sized vision.