AND THE SUN STOOD STILL IN THE SKY

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On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
    and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
 So the sun stood still,
    and the moon stopped,
    till the nation avenged itself on^[] its enemies,

as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! (Joshua 10:12-14)

I was just telling one of my counseling clients recently that “there’s no substitute for information” (and) “it is imperative when you make an important decision to gather all the facts first.”

Speaking of information and gathering all the facts, it seems our Creator thought of everything concerning our health and happiness.

A couple of years ago I ran across a blurb or blog or article, as the case may be, which has everything to do with the foregoing principle I mentioned in my first paragraph; something I had never thought of in my seven decades on this planet.

For you see, whatever it was I read dealt with the sensation of time apparently slowing down when people are in the midst of a momentary crisis. I mean, have you ever “been there?” (I certainly have. Many times).

I went on to read that during those scant few moments, we often experience a flood of thoughts which seem to center on, for lack of a better characterization, a way out of the mess which presents itself. And as a result of those scant few seconds seeming like minutes, we are able to reach some conclusions which we otherwise would be incapable of reaching.

Not unlike Joshua’s victory over the Ammonites and the additional time God afforded him when the sun stood still in the sky above the battlefield.

Allow me to give you an example from my own life.

Pt. 2

(Pt. 2 was originally written over a decade ago)

It was mid-afternoon, and Jean and I were on our way home from church, (or some other place long since forgotten.) She was driving our old green 1980 something Oldsmobile; a somewhat larger and heavier vehicle than one generally sees on the road today. We were traveling at 50 MPH, or more, and as we neared an intersecting road on our right, which was marked with a stop sign, a small blue car pulled into our pathway.

I could plainly see a man and woman in the front seat, and a little boy and girl in the back seat. I will never forget those precious little human beings as they sat there, eyes wide open, peering helplessly out the window, as our car swiftly approached them.  Less than 50 feet separated our two vehicles, and Jean proceeded to lock up the brakes. An accident was inevitable. As with so many traumatic events, time seemed to slow down. (Interestingly enough, I have read that this syndrome occurs because the brain is processing more information than usual in a miniscule amount of time.)

It was obvious that my wife had every intention of plowing headlong into the smaller car, (and no doubt, all the occupants of that vehicle would have been seriously injured or killed.) And though we were driving a much larger automobile, we also would not have been spared, since foolishly we weren’t wearing our seatbelts.

Suddenly, I just KNEW what I had to do.

I reached over with my left hand, took the steering wheel from Jean, and began steering it in a direction that would take us around the rear of the small vehicle. Amazingly, we cleared the back bumper of the little car by a foot. Both my wife and I found ourselves leaning hard in the direction of our passenger window. (As a result of that event, I can easily relate to the G-forces astronauts endure as they reach maximum acceleration.)

But our wild ride was only beginning. Our ungainly old car began a 180 degree slide. Suddenly, the back end was where the front end was just seconds before. Now we were sliding backwards. As the car lost momentum, we neared a wooden fence to our left which paralleled the side of a house. We finally slid to a stop in a grassy area, a few feet from the fence, very shaken, but not a scratch on either of us. 

As we ended our unexpected journey, I saw the little car as it turned left into the opposite lane of the four lane highway. The man didn’t even have the courtesy to stop and inquire about our well-being. The decent thing to have done, the only thing to have done, would have been to stop, especially since he had pulled in front of us, and caused a near fatal accident.

However, while this traumatic event was in the process of happening to us, another car pulled up to the stop sign. Having seen the spectacle falling together around him, I have no doubt that the driver watched in awe. The motorist asked if we were okay, and after we assured him we were, he drove away.

Post-script

I can think of no better example than the foregoing example from my own life. I think the syndrome I have described is a God-given one; the wherewithal to process a significant amount of information in the space of a few moments, and the resulting sensation that time has, in essence, slowed down; so that we might find our way out of seemingly impossible circumstances.

Our Creator thought of everything, and considering the initial scripture of the sun standing still in the sky, has truly graced us with some of His own attributes.

by William McDonald, PhD