The Sun, the Sea and the Sand

UV 1055/10,000 The Sun, the Sea and the Sand

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.

Psalm 113 v 3

This morning before the break of dawn I mounted my cycle and went down to the beach to do my half hour prayer walk. The vastness of the sea combined with the vastness of the skies, the infinite number of the sand grains on the beach, the rising sun, the unstoppable waves that keep rolling are a perfect ambience to worship the Lord. Once the Lord told us, “ The people of Japan proudly call their country the land of the rising sun. But I rise where the people acknowledge me as their Creator and Redeemer. I rise in your home because you praise my name every morning and continue to do so right through the day.”

In Las Vegas, in its many hotels and casinos, there are grand shows on a particular theme based on the name of the resort that take place every hour on the hour. Similarly, we need to acknowledge the Lord and praise His holy name, His loving nature towards us who are mortal and sinners, fallen far short of His ineffable and infinite glory and we need to do it every hour and on the hour. What a privilege it is that though we are so small, weak and puny, we can magnify the Lord’s name and ascribe glory to His name. From the rising of the sun to its going down implies that from our birth till death, from our rising every day till we go to sleep, in all of our activities and movements, in all of our thoughts, words and actions, in all our relationships, we need to acknowledge that it is the Lord who gives us warmth, light and power. Like the inexorable waves, streams of praise and thanksgiving need to flow from our hearts and minds. This is what Jesus said, “ Rivers of life-giving water will flow from your hearts.” The streams of praise and thanksgiving will enhance, enlarge and bless all aspects of our lives and all who come in touch with us. As I watched the fishermen set out in their boats, the Lord reminded me that each day we are off into uncharted territory but the Lord is in command of our boats. He will teach us to throw our nets in the right direction. The saltiness of the sea water and the sand grains that enter our shoes remind us of the sinfulness of the world and how sin so easily infiltrates and mingles with the elements of our lives.

Jesus is the Morning Star or the Sun of our lives. We revolve around Him as planets around the sun. The word planet in the original Greek root meant “ wanderer.” Jesus called us not to be wanderers or flotsam and jetsam on the sea’ s surface but to be followers. We praise Him most by following Him in His gracious words and ways. Every day we need to offer praise to Him in a new way or sing unto Him a new song. He is also waiting to give us new experiences of His manifold blessings. The words He speaks into our lives are the rays of light that penetrate our very bones and core of our being. The beach sand will remind us that each of us individually is like a grain of sand on the seashore to be trampled upon. But in the hands of Jesus we become like a precious and priceless pearl of eternal value. The Lord gives us innumerable blessings like the grain of sand on the shore. I was reminded of the Lord’s promise to Abraham that He would give him descendants as numerous as the sand grains on the seashore and prayed that people from Japan to the western most shores experience His love and grace.

The leadership and management concept implicit in this uni-verse is that our lives are God-dependent for sustenance, for protection, for provision, for guidance, for remission and salvation even as people and all creatures and plant species are dependent on the sun’s light to sustain them. The sun above, the sand below and the sea besides us all remind us that we are surrounded by the power and majesty of the Lord. The earth is His footstool and we would be fools not to recognize His great and awesome power and our vulnerabilities and susceptibilities if we take our eyes off Him. The principles evolved from this concept is that a)in all our ways and always we need to think, thank, praise and worship the Lord first for creating us and second, for giving us the saving knowledge of Christ, the morning Star of our lives. b) we need to be creative in our methods of worship and bring Him a new offering of thanksgiving every day . The practical steps to translate these principles into practices in our lives is : 1. Aim to remember the Lord with thanksgiving and praise every hour and on the hour as far it is possible in the course of the day 2. Think every day of something new to thank the Lord for


Prateep V Philip