Today is the day…August 21, 2017…the Great American Total Solar Eclipse! For those of us in this area of Kentucky, we find ourselves very close to what is known as “the path of totality” (where viewing the eclipse is optimal).
Ancient people did not know what to make of celestial events such as an eclipse. Was their god mad at them? Were they in some sort of danger? Was the world coming to an end? One legend recounts how the Medes and the Lydians ended a gruesome war between them, quickly agreeing upon peace, when a solar eclipse took place on May 28, 585 BC.
Today, we possess amazing scientific insight. Events such as these can be predicted with precision. We even know the very best places to position ourselves to be ready for “optimal viewing.”
Thus we know that any type of eclipse does not signal impending doom. It is not a sign that the world is coming to an end. It is not an ominous warning that bad things are soon to take place.
But make no mistake: The eclipse is most definitely a sign.
It is a sign that God is powerful…that God is a grand designer…that God is faithful…
“And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years” (Gen. 1:14, cf. Gen. 1:15-19; 8:22).
