Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,“
Genesis 1:17

To ‘set’ something is to put something in a particular place or position or to cause something or someone to be in the stated condition or situation. God SET the celestial bodies in place. Earth had already been set. Now the sun, moon, and other planets were placed so that the Earth had the proper orbit around the light-giving sun. The other stars, moons, and planets were ALSO set in their places so that their orbits functioned properly. The moon orbits the Earth. The Earth orbits our sun. The sun orbits the collection of solar systems that make up the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is in an almost pure radial orbit with the Andromeda galaxy. And it does on and on. All these bodies and masses of gravity interact with each other in their proscribed patterns exactly as God determined they should be. All of them created into the ages they needed to be in order to create those patterns (gravity around a dwarf star is VERY different than that around a red supergiant, for example). They were all created in a moment, each having disparate ages/stages, all to make sure that they ran in the right system, in order to fulfill their purpose for us to mark seasons, years, and days (as well as the herald special events, confirming that the events occurring ARE in fact special).

The overall system has been set in order to function and keep the sun and moon where they need to be in order to do their job as providers of light for the earth. Our sun and our moon were set in their places in order to provide us the light that is needed for the propagation and maintenance of both vegetation and ourselves (our bodies synthesize the essential nutrient vitamin D – which is actually a steroid hormone or prohormone – from sunlight.). The moon was set in the precise orbital distance that was required to regulate the tides. The sun was set at the precise distance needed to benefit us (closer and we burn, further away and we freeze). These are actions of INTENT, PLANNING, and PURPOSE.

The setting was not an accident. Nor was it the result of naturally occurring phenomena. It was a wilful action of God, designed to provide us with a blessing – light and heat derived from the light source. It was not done because we are DESERVING of this blessing, but because it is GOOD and God freely WANTED us to have what we need to fulfil His purposes for us – to worship Him, to work His works, and to fellowship with Him (know Him). Because they have been set, they do what it was He intended them to do. He has set the stars in the expanse in the same way He set His bow in the clouds (Genesis 9:13).