“The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.” (Ps 97:6 AV)
Tomorrow, a vast number of people will go out of their way to see something that happens several times in one’s lifetime. It is called ‘The Great 2024 Eclipse’. If you have been living under a rock and haven’t heard the news, tomorrow, there will be a total eclipse of the sun. This path of totality (the path wherein one can see a total eclipse) runs from Texas to Maine. There are articles regarding everything from the oddities one will witness in nature to prophesy sources touting this occurrence as a harbinger of the Rapture. The thing is, this is not my first rodeo. I have been through at least three. Perhaps four. I lived in the path of totality in 2017. It was indeed something to behold. But I have also seen partial solar and lunar eclipses over the years. They are not that uncommon. What strikes me as odd is that those who do not know God or who barely know Him at all think this eclipse is the most wonderful thing in nature. They are treating it as something so phenomenal they must rearrange their entire lives just to be a part of it. In reality, the entire universe down to the single cell or atom screams the glory of God! It is all around. All we need to do is open our eyes and consider how magnificently balanced by design and with purpose to see evidence of a God whom we cannot understand.
Of course, space and time limit me from bombarding one with proof of my statements. But let me share just one. Language. Language fascinates me. The ability to communicate is nothing short of a miracle. Language is extremely complicated. I know! I am far from a grammar expert. I barely passed spelling and English classes. If it weren’t for merciful grade school teachers, I probably would not have made it to High School. I am scratching the surface of learning a new language. I have learned that grammar is not universal. In other words, how we frame a sentence in English is not the same as how we frame the same sentence in another language. Something that I am learning is that immersion is a great technique to learn a foreign language. In fact, from my perspective, it is easier than trying to learn another language academically and translating that to immersion. Rather, learning to simply ape words and phrases until the brain can pick up patterns without trying to study them and define them is the way to go. But here is where I am fascinated with language. I always thought that one would have to constantly translate language into one’s mother tongue in order to understand and communicate. That is certainly so in the short term. But what I have found is the longer you learn another language, the more your brain does not need to translate. By inflection of voice, emotional interjection, and context, one can simply ‘know’ what the other is speaking. This is miraculous. As complicated as language is, the fact mankind can know it and use it cannot be explained outside of intelligent design.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not knocking the eclipse or all those who want to see it. It was certainly cool when my son and I shared the experience back in 2017. How nature behaves is fascinating. Birds don’t know what to do. The shadows cast are really cool. But the eclipse is but a very small part of the wonder of God. Those who want to see God can do so in innumerable ways. His handy work is all around us. I pray and hope this eclipse will be the start for some to seek a personal God who desires to know them. I pray the eclipse causes the lost to ask questions that lead to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I pray this regular phenomenon will work to full-scale revival in our world. I pray that this one thing will turn the hearts of the lost to a loving God who sent His Son as the perfect sacrifice for their sins!
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