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Eclipse of the Heart

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As if your news feeds and social media accounts weren’t already flooded with articles about todays solar eclipse, I’ve decided to join the discussion and share my two cents.  Not that my personal opinion is even worth that much, but this important event in our history has my wheels turning.  And while I think that this phenomenon will be visually spectacular, I am more impressed with its spiritual significance and what we can learn from it.

This morning I felt compelled to look up the definition of the word eclipse.  I know I do this often, but our words carry so much weight and importance, that it is hard to ignore their literal and often spiritual meanings.  According to the dictionary, eclipse means “an obscuring of the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observer or between it and its source of illumination.  In verb form, it means to deprive (someone or something) of significance, power, or prominence.

In todays world, it is obvious that we are in a state of “darkness”.  You don’t have to be a church go-er to notice that evil of every kind is all around us.  Just flip through the news channels and you’re certain to see a high level of wickedness and lawlessness like never before.  But we didn’t arrive here overnight.  The cycle of sin begins with small, daily choices.  The Bible tells us that sin is “crouching at the door”, eager to control us.  It’s the “little foxes that spoil the vine”.  We may not be committing violence and murder, but do we have hate for our neighbor in our hearts?  I may not be a thief, but am I jealous or complain about what I don’t have?  I may attend church every week, but do I carry a spirit of religion and ignore the condition of my own heart?  So often, we’ve classified sin into degrees of wrong, that we leave some stones unturned.  And these stones only harden our hearts to the Word of God and the love that He has for us.

Upon thinking of todays eclipse, I can’t help but to think about my own life.  What is standing in the way of me being closer to God?  What area or thing in my life “blocks” my visibility of the Son and obscures His light? And because of this, what power have I lost because of the sin I let remain in my heart?  God sent His son Jesus to pay the ultimate price; and I would hate to think that I missed out on all that that price offers.  The good news is, the Bible says in Romans 5:20, “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”.

There is nothing that can’t be forgiven.  There isn’t a past that can’t be healed.  Whatever case you present to the Lord, He has the answer.  He is the answer.  And though you may be searching for answers in what seems to be darkness and the unknown, God is there to meet your need.  He loves us and simply wants our hearts.  We may be broken and incomplete, but he can heal and restore.  When we examine our own hearts, He can then illuminate those things that keep us bound.  And when we repent of our sins, He can then forgive us and set us free.  My prayer is that today we will see Him brighter and feel Him deeper.  That every obscurity be removed, so the light of Christ can fill our hearts.  That in our weakness, He is made strong.

  • Anne Edge Jones

    Great article, It is nice to see others taking the secular world out of the eclipse and see the aww in what God has for us.