The Missing Day or: Restoring the years!!

By Helen Jesze, 4^th November 2022

“The word of the Lord came: Go back and tell Hezekiah… I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you…I will add fifteen years to your life…Then the Prophet Isaiah called upon the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow to go back the ten steps it had gone down…”

2 Kings 20:4,5,6,11 NIV

“Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the valley of Aijalon.” The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”

Joshua 10:12b-13 NIV

Last weekend, in the UK, we put the clocks back one hour. As Winter is fast approaching, this now gives us more light in the morning. The downside is, it gets dark already around 5 o’clock in the afternoon! Some of us think it might be better to give us more light in the evenings when we still have activities and things to do! But we have to do as we are told, don’t we, and learn to adjust!

Time is very important. Our American friend, the late Harold Hill, businessman, inventor, engineer who worked many times on the NASA Mercury/Gemini series of space launches, told of the necessary ahead-of-time statistical preparation for the moon walk. The space scientists checked the position of the sun, moon and planets, calculating where they would be in 100 and 1000 years from now, also the trajectories of asteroids and meteors to avoid collisions in outer space.

However, the computers ran into problems as they checked in centuries past and the years ahead. They showed there was a day missing! The scientists were baffled, then a religious fellow told of a story he had heard in Sunday School, how the Israelite army was fighting a battle against the Amorites. Then their leader, Joshua, commanded the sun and moon to stand still, in order that they might still have time to completely defeat the enemy. God answered him and the Bible says there was never a day like that before or since when the Lord listened to a man. “Surely, the Lord was fighting for Israel!” v.14. “There’s your missing day!” the Christian said.

Most of the scientists had laughed at this story, but having no other answer, they checked the computers, going all the way back to the time of Joshua, and found the “missing day”, but they were still 40 minutes short. They needed an answer, for this would have been extremely significant when multiplied many times over in orbits.

Then the Christian came up with another answer, how King Hezekiah was very ill and Isaiah, the prophet, was sent to tell him he was going to die. The King turned his face to the wall, shutting everything out and cried to God in desperation, that he would restore him. God spoke again to Isaiah, that he would answer the king’s prayer, healing him and physically adding fifteen more years to his life. Hezekiah asked for a sign that this would come to pass, so “… Isaiah called upon the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow to go back the ten steps it had gone down…”!

“Ten steps” means “ten degrees” which is exactly 40 minutes!! Twenty-three hours and twenty minutes accounted for in Joshua’s day, then forty minutes in Hezekiah’s day – the whole twenty-four hours, the missing day that the space scientists had to make allowances for in the log-book.

Sometimes we have friends who say the Bible is not true and that Science has the only answer to their questions. Harold used this illustration in his numerous lectures in businesses, universities with engineering students and in Christian meetings, showing that the Bible and Science are not poles apart as we are often led to believe. The God of the Bible is the God of the Universe! I would encourage you to pass on this true story of the “missing day” and pray that hardened hearts will be spoken to, and your friends will look for answers which include this great God and his Son, Jesus Christ.

Now let’s apply some truths from these stories to encourage and help us, personally. Two men were in desperate circumstances, Joshua and Hezekiah. Desperate to gain victory for Israel, Joshua had the audacity to tell the sun and the moon to stand still! Hezekiah, who had been an excellent king, serving God for many years, cries out to God to be brought back from certain death, asking for a sign that God would make the shadow would go back 10 degrees on the sundial! This was impossible, naturally speaking, but God is the One who made Time and he is a supernatural God; he granted these requests.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, in faith we reach out to you in our desperation today. Thank you for coming and bringing us answers, healing broken hearts, restoring relationships and situations, giving us victory! We acknowledge that you are the only One who can do this; we give you all the praise and the glory! In the Name of Jesus, we pray, Amen!