"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also." (Genesis 1:16) "[God] gives the sun for a light by day, and the moon to shine by night." (Jeremiah 31:35)
But you know that the bright moon which lights up the dark night and makes it beautiful with its clear beams, has really no light of its own. All the glory that shines from it is the borrowed light of the sun; it shines by reflecting the sun's rays. So when the sun sets, and passes for a time out of our sight, we know that it is still shining somewhere, although we cannot see it, because the moon catches its rays and sends them down to us.
But did you ever think that the sun has really no light of its own any more than the moon has? All its light is borrowed also; it is the reflection of a greater light, of the Light, the only Light, "in whom is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)
When we studied our lessons on the light we learned that Jesus is the true Light of the world, and all the glory of the sunlight is the reflection of the light of His face, the shining forth of His glory which He puts upon it.
And so, although we cannot see the face of God, we know that He lives and that His glory is still shining, because we can see its beams in the glorious sunlight by day and the soft beautiful moonlight by night. God makes the sun and moon and stars to be "great lights," (Genesis 1:16; Psalm 136:7) just by letting His own glory shine upon them. And this is how He makes His children to be, as Christ called them, "the light of the world." (Matthew 5:14) "[They] shine as lights in the world," (Philippians 2:15) only because He shines upon them and they reflect His light to others just as the sun and moon do. As we see what the sun is to our world, how there would be no light, no heat, no beauty, no growth, and so no life without it, we see how all things come to us from God just through the shining of His face upou us. Then let us pray the prayer of the Psalmist, "God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us." (Psalm 67:1)
How dependent our world and all who live in it are upon the sun! But remember that it is not the sun that is doing all these things for us, but He whose glory lights up the sun, whose hand guides it in its path through the heavens, and who is working through it to give life and blessing to us all.--Present Truth, October 27, 1898--A children's companion to: The Everlasting Gospel, Chapter 19, "The Glory of the Heavens".