The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
2024 Eclipse
Yesterday, April 8, 2024, our family stopped in Ohio on the way home from Washington D.C. to watch the eclipse. Wow! Amazing.
As our youngest daughter observed this incredible phenomenon she asked, “why doesn’t the moon get burned up?” She didn’t realize the massive distance between the sun and moon. And so we explained that to her. But then she asked an observant question, “how does the moon exactly cover the sun?” If the moon is so much smaller than the sun, then how can it fully cover the sun? As it turns out, this is actually a really interesting question which scientists call a “cosmic coincidence”. As it “coincidentally” turns out, the sun is 400 times further away from us than the moon, and the sun is also 400 times larger than the moon. So the moon almost exactly covers the sun when it is in direct path between the earth and sun. This seems impossible. If the moon was any further from the earth, or bigger, or smaller, or on a different path, it wouldn’t exactly cover the sun. It is one of many “coincidences” like our earth being at precisely the right angle and exactly the right distance from the sun to support life. If these (and many other “coincidental” factors) were off by even a tiny fraction, we wouldn’t be here. Is this just “coincidence” or is this the work of our Creator who intentionally designed and created this exactly the way he wanted it to be so that we would be here, and able to appreciate it?
As King David looked to the sky he reflected on this in Psalm 8 & 19
Psalm 19:1–4 (NIV)
1 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.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
Psalm 8
Psalm 8:3–4 (NIV)
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:1
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
When we look to the skies to see such amazing work, like the solar eclipse, it should cause us to reflect on our Creator who made all of this. It is the work of his hands, not merely a “coincidence”. Our looking to the sky should cause us to realize how awesome and majestic God is, and turn our focus to praise.