At dusk, just before the sun glides below the Pacific, I am deeply touched by the tenderness and awe of the many onlookers who come to watch the event. It is far more moving than any media gathering I have ever seen.

We watch for nuances of blending color as the sun dips low. We hope for rainbows as the cloud formations filter the light. Given the right atmospheric conditions, the green flash that can spread-out as the last rays shoot across the horizon causes a lull and then a great cheer. Sometimes I would rather watch the sunset as it reflects off all of those lovely faces more than the display over the Pacific. Golden wonder paints each face that allows a bit of the child’s surprise to return where it had been so trapped and darkened by the day’s frenzy and trouble.

It is about the words~~sunset and sunrise~~that I am now most struck. If we really look at their structure we know that they are inaccurate in their description. The sun neither sets, nor rises, but on our little planet Earth, we rotate toward and away from its full effects on a 24-hour cycle.

And still the words are fine with us! I think this has to do with the golden glow already noted on the watching faces. Our statements about the sun’s arrival and departure have more to do with our feeling about it than the accuracy of our terms. It is experienced as the sun leaving and coming because of the reliably and profoundly fundamental quality of the event.

Psalm 19: 6 says it this way: “Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end. And there is nothing hidden from its heat.” This is the way that we see the sun from our place here on the earth. In this case, because it is so majestic, our scientific bent can bow to our poetic heart, just as David did in his Psalm.

David’s science, as well as his heart, on the issue was entirely correct though when he said that: “…nothing is hidden from its heat.” The sun is the star that sustains all life here on Earth. The miracle of its placement in the heavens makes it such a marvel that can easily explain the crowds along the shore at sunset. At nearly 93 million miles away we are accurately positioned to have our entire planet wonderfully warmed by its heat. Given any, even slight, change in its positioning and we would either be burnt-up or frozen-stiff.

The sun, though altogether amazing, can receive no worship. The reason for amazement is over the Creator wielding such a protractor with the perfect settings for our life and protection. Every new day and evening is a reason for gratitude over our Defender—the Creator.

David again writes: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained. What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” Psalm 8:3

I have a friend whose amazingly curious four-year-old daughter asked her Mother: “So Mom, about that sunset, does it really fall into the ocean?” It astounded me over how real are the questions of a child. I like to think that we can be as real in our perplexities. “So, Lord, how could You love us so much as to shower us with your gold each evening when your sun sets, only to have it return with utter predictability with the same life-giving lights off another shore?”