This Day

Daq the jaj vetlh jIH ja', SoH jangta' jIH.
In the day that I called, you answered me. Psalm 138:3a

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Travel to Mars has some advantages. For one, the time to get there (with our current technology it'll take months - over half a year in most cases) means you'll have no jet lag whatsoever. Once you land, it will be no trick to adjust - your "day." will be almost the same as at home (if you're from earth) - it's 25 hours long.

Compare that to Mercury (59 days), Venus at 243 or pluto at 6.4. Our closest destination, the moon gives you a day that is 27.3 days long!

On the other hand, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have days that whiz by at 10, 10, 18 and 18 hours respectively.

Daq the jaj vetlh jIH ja', SoH jangta' jIH.
In the day that I called, you answered me. Psalm 138:3a

Across our solar system - and the galaxies, no doubt - the length of a "day" (yom in Hebrew, and jaj in Klingon) is variable. So too, in the Bible, as I saw looking at the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia entry on "Day."

It sometimes means the time from daylight till dark. Day also means a period of 24 hours, or the time from sunset to sunset. It can also mean "a specific time" as in Psalm 20 where we read "May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble."

It is used figuratively also in Joh 9:4, when Jesus says "I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day," where "while it is day" means "while I have opportunity to work, as daytime is the time for work."

We must also bear in mind that with God time is not reckoned as with us, as Psalm 90 notes,

For a thousand years in your sight Are but as yesterday when it is past, As a watch in the night. (Ps 90:4)

Daq the jaj vetlh jIH ja', SoH jangta' jIH.
In the day that I called, you answered me. Psalm 138:3a

The sense here is "now" - that is, as the Message translation puts it:

"The moment I called out, you stepped in"

We don't have to wait - God WILL answer, not tomorrow, but DaHjaj - TODAY - when we pray.

As humans follow our robotic emmisaries at Mars, Sattun and heading out to Pluto, we are reminded of a fact of life for space travellers - distance equals time. That is, the farther a spacecraft goes, the longer we have to wait to hear what is happening, the longer we have to wait for it to respond to our calls. Every 18 million kilometers, or 11 million miles equals one more minute of time that it will take a signal to reach a space ship.

When we consider the implications of this verse from psalm 138, we find that David - though he probably knew nothing of space travel - is reminding us that God is NOT far off, that he is very close, for he responds immediately. We DON'T have to wait. Though our answer may not always be our desire, we can be assured God hears - and better, yet he responds. He is not in some light years distant heaven.

And this, of course, is the message of this holiday season - Im Anu El, WITH us is God.

Right now. This Day. He hears - call to him today!

Daq the jaj vetlh jIH ja', SoH jangta' jIH.
In the day that I called, you answered me. Psalm 138:3a