The Moon

Ever since I was a young boy I used to marvel at the moon. I would think about how amazing it was that the moon I was gazing at was the exact same moon that was in the old movies I used to watch. In my limited thinking, a 40 year old moon was pretty cool.

This was long before I was a born again believer in Christ Jesus. But still I knew there was something special about the moon, aside from it’s history in cinema.

Today when I look at the moon, I still marvel at it. This morning as I was driving in to work our beautiful, full moon hung over downtown San Diego, shining brightly against the crisp, clear sky. The exact same moon that I marveled at as a young man, the exact same moon that is captured for all time in those old movies I watched. But now as a believer and follower of Christ, it means even more.

The moon has been hanging in the sky since time began.

“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:14-18 ESV)

The moon we see in the sky today is the exact same moon that lit the night in the Garden of Eden as Adam and Eve walked the earth. The same moon that lit the lonely waters as Noah and the Ark drifted on the seas in search of a new world. The same moon that led the Jews out of Egypt. The same moon that hung over Bethlehem when Jesus was born.

The Garden of Eden is gone. The earth’s landscape has changed. Temples have fallen. But the moon remains the same.

We don’t need a team of scientists and archaeologists to create a model of what they believe Adam’s moon looked like. We don’t have to visit a museum to see a fragment of our ancient moon displayed behind thick security glass for us to imagine what it must have been like.

Aside from some old car parts and a few flags left there by the space program, it remains unblemished and unchanged from the day God created it.

And for me that is what I was reminded of this morning. God is always there for us. He is unchanging. I can count on Him to always be there from the beginning of time to the end of time. I have assurance that He will fill my darkness with His light.

Back when we were dating, at the end of each day I would call Marissa to say goodnight. On the nights like last night when the moon was full, we would both go outside and find the moon in the sky. “Our moon is beautiful tonight” I would tell her, and at that moment we felt a special connection. Even though we were not physically together, we were connected by the knowledge of knowing we were both looking at the same moon at that moment. To this day, my first instinct when I see a full moon is to share it with Marissa.

The moon has a special place in my heart. It is a revelation of God’s glory and omnipresence in my life. It is a symbol of the blessings He has bestowed up me. It is yet another tangible reminder in my life that God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.