Sun
"For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory; He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity." (Psalm 84:11 CSB)
Some of God's names just simply magnify His "otherness." Take I AM, for instance. I can't quite fully wrap my head around what that incredible name means, but I'm glad about that: I need God to be beyond me! See also Yahweh-Tsidkenu (Lord Our Righteousness) and Alpha and Omega (Beginning and End), among others. These names speak of God's holiness...His "set-apartness."
But because our set-apart God is also a God who draws near and who wants us to connect with Him, many of His names graciously provide us with a touch point based on something we know about. "Sun," for example.
The sun (lowercase "s") sustains life. It energizes us. It makes things grow. It illuminates. It heals. Looking directly at it is harmful.
God the Sun gives and sustains life. He strengthens us. He grows us. He provides light for our path. He heals us. And Jacob marveled, as well he might, when He saw God's face and did not die: "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Genesis 32:30).
But there is one striking way in which the sun and the Sun differ: if we get too close to the sun, we die. But the closer we get to the Sun, the more we live.
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!