The next season and weather pattern would be an unknown. Regular planting and harvest would no longer be possible, and most plant and animal life would simply disappear due to the harsh temperatures, daylight extremes, and disrupted reproductive cycles. All of the grocery store shelves would have been emptied long ago. The "Katrina effect" would be global. Our lives depend upon the days and seasons that God has ordered into place by the setting of the moon.

The moon accounts for most of the tidal effects on planet earth. Besides providing great fun to surfers and other "water people," the tides have served to help regulate the "earth clock" as mentioned above and promote life and healthy conditions in the world's oceans. Tidal interactions helped cause the moon's rotation to slow down to where we only see one side of the moon at any given time. This attraction plus the physics of centrifugal force keeps the moon at a pretty steady distance of about 240,000 miles (give or take a few thousand miles due to the elliptical orbit). It takes the moon 29.5 days to rotate once which is the same amount of time the moon needs to complete one orbit (one moon or month) around the earth.

And if that isn't finely tuned enough, consider that the Lord has arranged for the distance to be exactly where it needs to be so that its apparent size in the sky is the same as the sun's. That's why we can have a total eclipse from time to time! The tiny moon can slip perfectly in front of the gigantic sun, and because of just the right distance and alignment, blot out all of that powerful sunshine. Another interesting bit of trivia is that the moon is slowly moving away from the earth at a rate of about 1.5 inches per year. This means again, that by the time it would take for this to make a difference, humankind will have long been gone from the old earth.

During the early creation period, the moon served to protect the earth from the impact of countless other bodies as it swept up untold numbers of objects as they orbited near the earth. Even today the moon continues to protect the earth from some impacts. You might say the Lord used the moon to clear a minefield of dangerous threats as He prepared earth for us to live on.

The next time you step outside under the light of a full moon (which by the way will be August 28), recall again the words of the Psalmist, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" God is mindful of us, because He loves us dearly. He has placed all of the stars, moons, and planets on their courses for our pleasure and benefit. His handiwork declares His glory and might.