“His kingdom will last before Me like the sun. It will continue forever, like the moon, like a dependable, reliable, faithful witness in the sky.”—Psalm 89:36-37
A favorite local author from childhood, the late Elizabeth Yates, once said of the early morning: “The silence is so intense that the striking of a distant clock comes into it like sounds from another world. How bright the stars are! How still the trees! Neither branches nor leaves are in motion. Everything seems to be waiting for something to happen. It is a time when the veil between the worlds is thin…”
If you’ve ever gotten up that early, you feel those words as your own. Because no matter what the season, one of the best things about waking up early is to be in that moment of intense stillness when night hands off the baton to day. Dark becomes light again. Another relay race is on! And there to cheer on the moment every time is the moon. Sometimes, it’s right in your face. Sometimes, it's a fingernail way up high. And sometimes, it’s to the left or to the right of where it was a few days ago, but it’s always, always there, making its comforting presence known.
The psalmist, who spent a lot of time outdoors, tells us something more—that God Himself is faithful, just like that moon. And it doesn’t have to be night becoming morning to see and receive that truth. Because on this new day, whether cloudy or sunny, it’s good to know that the Creator of heaven and earth is a type-and-shadow of that “dependable, reliable, faithful witness in the sky” whose kingdom still reigns beyond the blue or gray or storminess of all that we can see or feel. He’s got this.
Because just like the moon shines in winter, spring, summer and fall, faithful means God never goes away on vacation or leaves us to figure things out for ourselves. Better still, seeing the moon up there is a constant reminder that though we stumble often, doubt frequently, and rebel without even realizing it, God remains faithful to His Almightyness, His promises, and His name, without a hint of wavering...
His love toward us never quits, whether we feel it or not. It’s always reaching out, like a beam across the pond.
...And like the moon—sometimes appearing to be full in our heart, sometimes feeling distant and thin, but always present regardless of circumstance—God is tirelessly, joyfully, faithfully reflecting the goodness of all that He is in a world gone mad. His love. His mercy. His compassion. His grace… to any and all who will simply look Up and believe that the beautiful moon in the sky is much more than just a faithful moon. To be still and know that…
“He is perfectly faithful, because God is never partly anything.”—A. W. Tozer
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