Eclipse

Image by: Pat Nygren

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 233: Today, I am grateful for a God who hovers.

This image is from my Bible journaling friend, Pat Nygren. She creates some beautiful images and this one was her response to God intervening with a big answered prayer. I immediately thought of the eclipse and asked if I could use it. She was so gracious enough to let me share her work. Isn't it lovely?  

We live in a time when the science of the skies is written into books.  Every once in awhile, something truly remarkable and noteworthy happens. Today is one of those days. Today, much of the USA will experience a total eclipse of the sun. 

Scientists predict that nature will respond as if night were falling. Then, it will wake up again. Today, is a noteworthy day. 

It is amazing to live in a time when we can predict when events like a full solar eclipse. We will experience it and talk about it into the next generation. Kind of a big deal, because the last one... a full eclipse... was back in 1912. Partial one, but not full. Full lunar, but not solar. 

Being able to predict such an event, does not make it any less awesome. It does allow us to prepare with safety glasses and proper viewing instructions. 

During Bible times, they had to record what they saw, in the manner they saw it. God may have worked with the laws of science that he created with such detail... or he may have chosen to work outside the laws of nature, because He can. 

Joshua 10 is often referred to as Joshua's long day. The day it appeared as if "the sun stood still" so Joshua and his army could defeat their enemies. They had been promised a victory.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! -Joshua 10:13b-14

For me... discovering and diving into the word "hover" in Biblical passages has been a great adventure. Think "hovercraft"... it pauses, right? Defying gravity. The definition of hover is this: to remain in one place in the air. At creation, "God hovered". Pausing to look it over, tweak and set in place. 

Our God is a gravity defying God. He brings amazing things to pass in the skies. Some events we have studied and unraveled some of the mysteries. Others, we are left stumped and wondering. 

Isn't it good to know, we can trust his hand and his heart as He hovers over his creation? Isn't it reassuring to know, no battle we face is bigger than our hovering God can manage?  

Today, I am grateful for a God who hovers.