Years ago, we stood briefly at the equator in Uganda, but our ministry trip to eSwatini was our first sojourn south of the equator. I was startled by the upside-down crescent moon, even though—after a moment’s reflection—the topsy-turvy sight made perfect sense. 

In the northern hemisphere, the moon moves left to right as it rises in the east and sets in the west. In the southern hemisphere, the moon moves right to left, as it rises in the east and sets in the west. This also made perfect sense, once I drew it instead of reading it. 

As a lifelong resident of the western hemisphere, I think of the east as toward the Atlantic Ocean and the west as toward the Pacific. Of course, for most of the world, east is toward the Pacific Ocean, and west is toward the Atlantic Ocean. 

Incredibly, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. As far as Attu Island, Alaska—home of Aleutian cackling geese, which were long thought to be extinct but are now thriving—is from Caroline Island, Kiribati—where sooty terns feast on coconut crabs. Adak and Caroline Islands are 23 time zones apart, but God casts our sins farther apart than that. 

He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  (Psalm 103:10-12)

Praise the God of our salvation, who is “the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas (Psalm 65:5). Bless the Lord, O my soul!