You might be living under a rock if you weren’t aware of the solar eclipse that happened on Monday. Here in Iowa we got about 84% of it and that’s still pretty cool. Just me and my special glasses out on the deck gazing at the tiny orange ball, coming and going.
As I was watching one of the morning TV programs earlier in the day, they interviewed a gentleman who had some type of scientific credentials. Part of his answer to a question posed was, “The sun is the lord of the universe.”
It took me so completely by surprise and my reaction to it was utterly visceral. I wanted to stand up and shout at the TV. “No, the sun is NOT the lord of the universe! God is the Lord of the universe!”
Now I do understand that within our own sun’s realm of influence, the planets and the moons all revolve around the sun because of its gravitational pull on us.
But calling the sun lord? Nope, not on my watch.
Why was my reaction so strong? Simply put – because our human inclination is often to worship the creation rather than the Creator. And we couldn’t get it more wrong than that.
In Romans 1:25 we see how the Apostle Paul sets us straight:
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie
and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
This is at the heart of idolatry, demonstrated clearly in the story of the people of Israel worshipping the golden calf so soon after Moses received the Ten Commandments directly from God. Dangerous territory, indeed!
But back to the news program this morning. One incredible fact was shared that made me in awe of the one who truly created this universe.
They said that the sun is 400 times farther away from the earth than the moon is. And the sun is 400 times larger than the moon. Those two facts combined are what cause the moon to completely blot out the powerful rays of the sun during a total eclipse.
What do you think the chances of that being a coincidence are? Exactly zero.
Through the years, I’ve been told so many amazing facts about God’s creation and how a zillion of them line up to allow life to exist on the planet Earth. It’s absolutely mind blowing to try and comprehend the beautiful design of God’s world.
I’m guilty of taking so much of it for granted as I live in the midst of these miracles every day. I wish it hadn’t taken a solar eclipse to remind me of the infinite power of our God. This creation, in all its magnificent splendor and awe, is one of the ways we can experience so much of God’s character.
Of course we see the attention to detail that results in a solar eclipse. We see his splendor as we gaze at majestic mountains or vast oceans. We might even see a bit of his sense of humor as we look at some incredibly odd-looking sea creatures!
His fingerprints are all around us if we would just stop and marvel at his creation. I hope I can carry this sense of awe into the days and weeks ahead. I want a constant reminder of who God is and how powerful he is. He is sovereign, and he is good. He is the LORD of the universe.
I’d like to close with a couple of random eclipse insights.
We were fortunate to have cloudless skies here in the Des Moines area. I was home all afternoon and would take my glasses and check out the progress of the eclipse every 30 minutes or so. Even when the eclipse was at its peak here, with only 16% of the sun visible, I didn’t sense any loss of sunshine as I looked out my window.
That brought to mind the fact that we can feel completely awash in God’s sunshine with just a small percentage of his total brightness.
I’m also reminded of the fact that there is no need for the sun once Jesus returns and this earth is restored to its original perfection. In Revelation 21:23, we are told:
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
God is all the light we will ever need in eternity. I’ll end on that glorious thought!