Here in Southeastern PA, we’ve had a tremendous string of beautiful sunny days. I especially enjoy them because now that school has started, I don’t get any sun all day long. I’m a middle school math teacher with a classroom on the north side of the building. Even the sunrise won’t peek into my room.

So when my school day is done, it feels so good to walk out and feel the afternoon sun beating down on my shoulders and warming my face. I’ve found myself lifting my head and closing my eyes to drink in the sunshine. That’s also how I got goose poop on my foot and then in my car. But the sunshine was worth it!

It really is amazing though – this boiling, swirling, raging ball of hydrogen explosions some 93,000,000 miles away. It can make me smile and melt away the frustrations of the day in seconds. John Denver made millions reminding us, “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy. Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry. Sunshine on the water looks so lovely. Sunshine almost always makes me high.”

Katrina and the Waves found a way for us to be “Walking on Sunshine” and don’t it feel good? That is one of my favorite “roll the windows down and blast at full volume” songs.

Johnny Nash could see clearly now, the rain was gone; He sang, “I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright sun-shiny day.”

I have to admit, there are days I would love to grab my friends and join Sheryl Crow on the beach as she sings, “I’m Gonna Soak up the Sun.”

Of course, if we really were able to soak up the sun, we’d be toast. At 27,000,000 degrees at the core, we wouldn’t be soaking it up; it would be torching us in seconds. Towers of molten plasma miles high spew out deadly radiation. The sun is something to be feared and enjoyed at the same time. Strange, isn’t it?

So far, we know of only one planet positioned just right from the organized chaos of a star to provide an environment for life. Our planet. The sun gives us warmth and provides plants with photosynthesis. That’s where they use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into food and generate oxygen as a byproduct – a byproduct we can’t live without. Amazing, right?

Feared for its power, enjoyed for its warmth and positioned perfectly for life to grow. Often God is compared to the sun. maybe you’ve heard this blessing, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-25

Or the prayer in Psalm 80, “Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.”

God is like the sun. Now, I didn’t say God IS the sun. Or that God is the SAME as the sun. That’s not the meaning. God is LIKE the sun. It’s an analogy.

He is feared for His power and yet enjoyed for the warmth of His impact on us. Many people understand God to be one or the other but not both. God is feared for His power, but He is not warm toward us. He is not a personal God. Some sadly feel that He desires no relationship or interaction or warmth of any kind.

Others feel that God is only warmth and good vibes but has no power to be feared. He holds no standard to be measured against. He requires no accountability at the conclusion of our lives. He exerts no supernatural power that prayer can access.

Some have no respect for His power. Like me having no respect for electricity. My dad taught me how to work on home wiring – live. Every manual tells a person to turn off the circuit or the main before handling any wiring. My dad’s manual had three words – “Just be careful.” That advice works most of the time.

Although one time, I was working on an overhead light with live wires and no shirt. As long as the hot wire stays away from any contact with your body, my dad said I was OK. I shifted on the ladder and the live wire swung over and made contact with my bare chest. Now I know what it feels like to get defibrillated while being fully conscious. I also discovered the scent of singed chest hair. Not pleasant.

I didn’t respect the power. And I paid a price.

I want to encourage you today with this thought. Just like the sun has a power to be feared and a warmth we can enjoy personally, so does God. And He wants to shine His face toward you.

I have to say the greatest adventure of my life has been to feel His sunshine. His power and His warmth. When I was confused and between careers, I was sustained by His power over my future and the warmth of His assurance in my heart. There was no need to panic.

As COVID moved into the summer months, some of our friends decided to start a food bank. The supernatural provision of literally tons of canned goods and fresh food in a matter of days was evidence to me of a God who works both inside and outside of the normal – His power at work. We got a random phone call from a potato chip company wondering if we could use 2000 lbs. of potatoes. That’s just one example of many I could share.

The warmth of new friends was a sweet benefit – the relationships between volunteers, relationships with the needy as well as continuing relationships with those we served. This is God impacting us with His warmth.

You see, like the sun, God shows His power AND His warmth. And like a plant cannot grow without the sun as its source, we must depend on God as our source to grow spiritually.

One of my favorite movie trilogies is the Matrix Trilogy. In this saga, artificial intelligence machines were overtaking the world. To stop the spread of their control, scientists attempted to block the Machine’s primary energy source, the Sun, by spraying nanomachines into the upper atmosphere. Skies filled with dark, rainless clouds that blotted out the sun. With the lack of sunlight, photosynthesis ceased, vegetation disappeared, almost all of life became extinct and the world withered away. All that was left was a dark, cold desert of steel, dirt and debris. The Machines adapted to a new energy source and humans were forced underground to survive in an awful sunless, colorless, cavernous city.

Blotting out the sun killed life on the planet surface and the only forms of living were machine-driven programs or an underground subsistence of survival.

Our plants need the sun. Everything on our planet needs the sun to shine to keep growing. We need the sunshine.

There’s a lot going on in our lives, in our schedules that can blot out the sunshine God is throwing our way. We need the power and the warmth and the growth He shines on us. If we turn our faces toward Him, we’ll feel it. If we turn away – or worse – blot out the sunshine, what we eventually experience will be barrenness. A machine-driven life or an underground subpar existence.

I hope you choose to never live in that kind of wasteland. Especially when God is shining toward you every day. In 1969, the Beatles reminded us to look up – even after a long cold lonely winter – because “Here Comes the Sun”.

Respected for His power, enjoyed for His warmth and positioned perfectly for us to grow.

It’s ironic that as I finish, it’s overcast outside. But it won’t last. And I know the sun is right up there. It’s just hidden for a short time. I’ll look past the clouds, through the clouds with eyes of faith and soon I’ll be “Walkin on sunshine”.

Life is Best When we lift our face to feel Him shining on us.

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