Around 2:30 PM on Monday, April 8, I walked out of my office totally oblivious to what was happening in the sky above me. As I made my way to my car, from the top of the fire escape stairwell attached to our office building I heard several voices call out to me, “Jerry…the eclipse, the eclipse.” When I looked up, there stood several of our Administrative Assistants wearing the special eclipse viewing sunglasses and staring into the sky. It was then that I remembered that there was supposed to be an eclipse that day. During the thirty-minute drive to our downtown hospital, I saw many others mimicking the excitement of our Assistants. As I arrived at the hospital, there were so many hospital employees and medical staff outside looking up at the sky that it made me wonder who was taking care of the patients inside. As I have done follow-up reading and reflecting about total eclipses, I have found two things to be especially remarkable:
- I find it remarkable that there can even be a total eclipse – given that the sun is 400 times larger than the moon. How can our much smaller moon totally eclipse the sun from our vantage point on earth? It’s because the sun is also 400 times farther away from us than the moon, making the sun and moon appear to be the same size in our sky.
- I find it even more remarkable that astronomers can tell us when the next total eclipse for various parts of the earth will occur. For example, the next total solar eclipse visible from South Carolina where I live will be in 2078, with several partial eclipses in the near future. That qualifies in my mind as a “how can they do that?”
- I have a question for you to ponder. What determined that the sun and moon would have the exact distance between them so that an eclipse would even be possible. What will direct the sun and moon to travel their daily and annual routes such that 54 years from now they are in exact position to one another for us to have a total eclipse in SC once again? Will it be the occurrence and reoccurrence of an evolutionary cosmic coincidence, or will it be further evidence that a powerful and Creative Genius is behind it all, making it possible for such a prediction to be made?
Both the April 8 and the predicted 2078 eclipse suggest such a detailed orderliness in our universe that decries any suggestion that it is the result of an evolutionary free-for-all. Everything about our universe, everything we observe in the skies above us (whether daytime or nighttime), everything we observe about the systems that are in place to manage life on earth day to day (i.e. weather), and everything we observe about human, animal, and plant life here on earth begs for a conclusion that a creative genius is responsible for all of it.
But beware, even if we conclude that a powerful and Creative Genius is responsible for all that we see and observe, we still have a major decision to make. We must decide whether that powerful and creative genius is personal or impersonal, actively involved in the lives of its inhabitants or indifferent to them, relates to it as an owner/operator or as an absentee owner, whether He is a creator of chaos or a creator of order out of chaos. I’m so glad that we don’t have to speculate on which descriptions above best describe this powerful and creative genius. The Bible, the words God inspired to be written about Him and His love for His creation, tells us:
- He is personal. He has a name – Yahweh (Jehovah, Lord). We call Him God. We also call Him Father. He speaks to us through His Word. We speak to Him through prayer. He is not in the distance; He is present. He is as close as breathing.
- He is the epitome of an owner/operator, actively involved in the world He created – especially in the individual lives of the apex of His creation – mankind.
- He specializes in creating order out of chaos – whether in the universe, the world around us, or in individual lives – especially individual lives.
A week after the eclipse I attended a prayer conference where the speaker taught us how to personalize scripture and pray it back to God. After training us how to do it, for practice he instructed us to pick one of the 150 Psalms in the middle of the Bible. I chose Psalm 8, not realizing that God’s Spirit would take that practice opportunity and change it into a deeply personal worship experience. I was particularly struck by verses 3-4, ”When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” When I personalized it, it became, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, who am I that you are mindful of me, and the son of man that you care for me?” Take a moment and say that about yourself as well.
What an incredible inspiration for worship these two verses created for me as I celebrated and praised God for that reality. Despite God being big, powerful, and creative enough to create this huge universe and all that is in it, despite Him being busy managing its daily goings on, Psalm 8 tells me that He not only takes note of me, but He is mindful of me. That means I matter. That means I have purpose and meaning beyond what I can conjure up for myself.
That means I am loved. That means I have intrinsic value – no matter how much or how little I accomplish in life. And it all means that for you, too.
Nothing validates that God is mindful of me (and you) more than the words recorded in the Bible in John 3:16 (ESV). “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Does it matter that you matter? Beyond any shadow of a doubt!
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