Solar Eclipse? Or Moon Party?

If the moon can cover the face of the sun when the moon is 400x smaller than the sun, and if the moon can hide the light of the sun though it is 400x closer to earth than the sun…then maybe we should have called the total eclipse a moon party. I gleaned those figures from watching the total eclipse on television. We were in the hospital with only an inch or two of sky visible. But we saw the whole amazing, exciting, breathtaking event in Dallas, Cleveland, and Rochester.

We saw the moon’s disc totally cover the sun until all we could see of it was a glimmer around the edge called the corona. A few bright stars were also visible like diamonds on the edge of a black brooch.

We heard the reactions of those who were there–how cool it became suddenly, how animals assumed it was night and prepared for sleep, how it was so awesome it brought tears to the eyes of some and shouts of sheer wonder from others. Crowds of people traveled great distances to be able to see the total eclipse, though some portion of the eclipse could be seen in all of the lower forty-eight. One man I heard interviewed had traveled from Florida to New York and, if clouds were obscuring the sun, was willing to drive on to Canada.

There were comments about what it must have been like for folks in ancient days who had no warning that such a spectacular event would occur. Did they think it was the end of the world?

Our thought swing to the future. The next total eclipse seen in U.S. will be March 30, 2033. It will be seen then from northwestern Alaska. Another eclipse may be seen from parts of Canada, Montana, and the Dakotas on August 23, 2044.

How do the scientists know these dates? How did they know even the time of day the eclipse could be seen last week? How did they know just how many minutes the sun would be hidden?

The scientists are very smart to compute the dates and times down to the seconds. But they wouldn’t be able to if our Creator had not formed everything with such precision and orderliness. Imagine! An eclipse can be pinpointed decades ahead. I heard one commentator call the eclipse an amazing coincidence. Those who study the Bible know it is no coincidence. It’s part of a huge meticulous plan.

Prior to the eclipse my son, Will Graham, sent me the above picture of the moon as viewed by him from North Carolina. The moon itself is spectacular, regardless of an eclipse. It is an awesome orb, affecting all of us with its very regular and predictable cycles. And then there are the millions of stars, the galaxies–and the sun! All are set in place and spinning, rotating, doing exactly what they were meant to do.

Contemplating it all, I’m drawn to one of my favorite Bible passages, Psalms 8:3-4:

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?