Corona Devo 1500

I'm a talker.  

There are not many situations that render me silent or leave me speechless, but yesterday was one of them.

A total eclipse of the sun.  

(Eclipse: The partial or total blocking of light of one celestial object by another. An eclipse of the Sun or Moon occurs when the Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned. ~Dictionary.com)

For about an hour, we saw the creeping crescent (of the moon) gradually darken the bright ball of the sun, as one orb slowly (but surely) moved over and in front of the other.

We (our family and neighbors) saw the moon align with the sun, and blot it out completely for about four (wild and amazing and unprecedented-in-our-lifetime) minutes.  

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  (2) Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  (3) They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  (4) Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.  ~Psalm 19:1

The last time our city/area experienced a total viewing of a solar eclipse was in 1804, and the next time someone will stand in my city and view it will be in September of 2099. 

 

Many years span the viewings, but I have no doubt that the 1804 responses and reactions were similar to ours today, and will be similar to the men and women looking skyward in 2099.

Awe.

Humility.

Insignificance.

Wonder.

Proof of the God and faith that we believe in. 

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Awe.  

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.  ~Psalm 65:8

~~~

Humility.  

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”  ~Isaiah 6:5

~~~

Insignificance.

...what is mankind that you are mindful of him, human beings that you care for them?  ~Psalm 8:4

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Wonder.   

Listen carefully to the thunder of God’s voice as it rolls from his mouth.  (3) It rolls across the heavens, and his lightning flashes in every direction. 

(4) Then comes the roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of his majesty...  (5) God’s voice is glorious in the thunder.  We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power. 

(6)  “He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down.  (7) Then everyone stops working so they can watch his power...

(10) God’s breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water.  (11) He loads the clouds with moisture, and they flash with his lightning.  (12) The clouds churn about at his direction.  They do whatever he commands throughout the earth...   

(14) “Pay attention to this...  Stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God!  

(15) Do you know how God controls the storm and causes the lightning to flash from his clouds? 

(16) Do you understand how he moves the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill?...

(21) We cannot look at the sun, for it shines brightly in the sky when the wind clears away the clouds...

(23) We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though he is just and righteous, he does not destroy us.  (24) No wonder people everywhere fear him.  Job 37:2-7, 10-12, 14-16, 21, 23

~~~

Proof of the God and faith that we believe in.  

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  ~Romans 1:20

~~~

It got quiet among us during the darkness of that eclipse.  

What do you say when the temperature drops, the atmosphere seems to change, and day becomes night at 3:15 PM on a Spring afternoon? 

Even an atheist, a doubter, or a skeptic could not deny the "holy" of that solar/lunar experience.  

But we were not the first people to experience such a thing, and we shall not be the last:

• It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; The lights will diminish.  ~Zechariah 14:6  

• Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.  (33) At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.  ~Mark 15:32-33   

• “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.  ~Amos 8:9  

~~~

Every once in a while we might need a super-natural experience to remind us of God's power.  His divinity.  His glory.  And did I mention His supreme power?  

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, (15) and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. (16) God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.  ~Genesis 1:14-16

Only God, who made the two great lights, could have the power and dominion to intersect these two great lights...letting them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.

And that's how it felt during the eclipse: sacred.

There are not many things that leave me speechless, but the power, majesty, creativity, and beauty of our Creator God is one of them.

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com