Sometimes God Freezes the Sun. Sometimes God Listens
At that time Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
“Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel.
So Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. Joshua 10:12–15 ESV
Unlike most of the battles in the book of Joshua, this one isn’t about taking land and taking over cities. This one is a rescue mission. A small nation-state that had made a treaty with Joshua and Israel was under attack by 5 armies at once. An invasion force greater than Joshua’s was taking over the great land of Gibeon. The invasion must have been awful, because Gibeon was known for it’s royalty and it’s great fighting men.
Joshua and his army marched through the night and caught them all by surprise. God strengthened Joshua’s army and they prevailed, chasing the attackers back down the roads they came from and wiping them out.
Then Joshua prays a very weird prayer. Who would even think of praying something like that in the modern age?
”We need daylight to finish this battle right. Sun, stand still.”
So God does it, and it stands still for “about a whole day” and Joshua wins. (One of the kings was Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, so now all of the troops have been drawn out of Jerusalem and destroyed, which will have strategic implications later, but we’ll save that for another day.)
It’s pretty amazing that something like that would happen, considering what we know now about the solar system. Snopes, of all places, had an interesting explanation. Here is a paraphrase: It cannot be scientifically disproven. If a clock stops, then starts up again at the same spot, we only know how long it was stopped by another clock. Since the sun and moon are our single standard for time, we cannot know if they stopped, because cannot go back and see anything else moving while they were stopped! All we have is the written historical account, so if you believe the history in that book, you can believe the solar system did that.
But that isn’t what the Bible refers to as the big deal of all of this. After it’s all over, the big deal is that God listened to a man. Let’s not let the solar system events distract us. If the writer drew attention to the face that God listened to a man, let that sink in. Never mind the “what if it’s true” part of the sun standing still, what if it’s true that God listens when we pray?
John Wesley said “God does nothing except in answer to believing prayer.” What if the lesson God wants His people to remember from this event is that we can pray, and sometimes He listens? Sometimes He even acts on what we ask!
Pray today for things that need God’s action. Pray like He can freeze the sun. Fight against invaders of sin, depression, discouragement, lust, etc. and call on the God Who Hears to give you light for the fight.