A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
This year the summer solstice began on June 21 at 4:24 am in our time zone in the
Northern hemisphere. I have always hoped that I might feel that mysterious, subtle moment when
the earth actually tilts back on its axis in its orbit around the sun. Of course I can’t feel it. God’s
great design of gravity and atmospheric pressure prevents it. But it happens.
This year’s solstice reminded me again of God’s personal, intentional care for the people
He created in His very own image with such love. I find great comfort in that fundamental truth.
King David said it this way:
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars You set in place—
What are mere mortals that You should think about them,
human beings that You should care for them?
Yet You made them only a little lower than God Himself
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything You made,
putting all things under their authority . . . .
O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Psalm 8:3-9 nlt
How both humbling and exhilarating! The eternal, Almighty God who flung a billion
galaxies into space actually thinks about you and me all the time. There are more than 8 billion
people living on earth today, and yet God actually cares individually about you and me, as well
as them. We matter to Him. He has crowned us with everything we could possibly need. He
gives generously of His whole creation. So on June 21, 2026, at an exact, predetermined
moment, God tilted His earth a fraction the other way, to give us a summer of long days, with
time for sowing and reaping. And on this year’s winter solstice, December 21, 2026, He will tilt
our earth the other way again, to give us long nights of rest from labor.
It’s impossible for our finite minds to comprehend, but thank God it is so. God cares,
personally, individually, and intimately for you —and for all of us “ornery,” broken images He
created with love in His likeness.
And that’s why we have hope:
But the path of the just [forgiven sinners] is like the shining sun,
That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18 nkjv