The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and its circuit to the other end of them; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.  –Psalm 19:1-6

Yesterday, millions of people turned their attention to the heavens to catch a few minutes’ glimpse of the total eclipse. Media channels were full of predictions about the possible effects to follow, and what this phenomenon means. While partial lunar eclipses are normal, total solar eclipses are rare, hence the excitement and anticipation they create.

Two things come to my mind as I ponder the eclipse.

#1 – Eclipses testify to the intentional divine design of God’s creation.

As a follower of Jesus, I love the fact that millions of people were “looking up” yesterday afternoon, gazing at an event that literally shouts that the world was created by a sovereign, intentional, powerful God. There’s an article* on one news website today that gives the anticipated dates of future solar eclipses. The next one that will pass coast to coast in the lower forty-eight states won’t happen until August 12, 2045. I’ll be 81; if the Lord tarries and I live that long, the heavens will still be shouting about God’s creation!

But how can they know this? Why can they pinpoint a date twenty-one years in advance? Because the universe was created with order and beauty and rhythm and routine that calls out God’s glory. The world did not evolve from chaos to order; the magnificent symmetry and regularity of how it functions was divinely created from the beginning.  The simple fact that astronomers can observe the movement of the stars and planets and suns down to the minute should cause us to fall on our knees and worship the One who created them.

Genesis 1:14-19 – Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

Psalm 8:1 – O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

Psalm 97:6 – The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory.

#2 – Eclipses remind us that “our” light was never meant to eclipse THE light.

John 8:12 – Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

John 1:1-14 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Since the Garden of Eden, men and women have sought to find light within themselves. We are made to worship, and when our thoughts turn inward, we worship ourselves. But did you notice? Even in the places where the solar eclipse was viewed “in totality,” it was never completely dark. The shadows might have come, and the temperature likely dropped. But God’s glory can never be completely eclipsed or done away with. Just as surely as the sun reappeared as the moon continued on its assigned orbit, our little attempts to be our own god and worship ourselves will fade. One day, God’s glory will be seen in all its magnificence – for all the world to see.

Romans 1:18-20 – For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

Philippians 2:9-11 – For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Revelation 1:7 – Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.

Yesterday was a good reminder for us. When we want to understand who we are, why we exist, and what this world is all about, we need to look up and focus our eyes on the glory of God who created us. This should cause us to ask, “Is there anything in our lives that is ‘eclipsing’ the glory of God? Is there any darkness in us? Are there areas of our lives that obscure the beauty and adoration and worship that belongs to Jesus?”

If there are, may God’s mercy and grace and forgiveness cause us to turn to Him, and remove those things. May our desire to eclipse the glory of God be gone just as quickly as the moon moved aside to let the sun have its proper place.

John 3:30 – He must increase, but I must decrease.

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*https://www.cnn.com/world/next-total-solar-eclipse-2044-scn/index.html.