Dear Friends

August marked a rare event in our skies, a partial eclipse of the sun. At its peak, over 90% of the sun was covered by the moon. A partial eclipse, where this much of the sun is covered, only happens here every few decades, so this was quite a rare event. What I found particularly amazing is that, with over 90% of the sun covered, there was still a lot of daylight. It was only by wearing eclipse glasses, and looking at the sun, that I could appreciate the spectacle. Through the protective lens I could see just a thin sliver of the sun with almost the whole of the dark disc of the moon covering the rest. Without the glasses on, the sun looked almost as bright as it usually did.

Throughout the Bible, God and light go together. God’s first act of creation was to say,

‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

While the Apostle John, describing Jesus, wrote,

‘in Him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ’ (John 1:4)

Later John recorded Jesus saying,

‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ (John 8:12)

As I watched the eclipse, and marvelled at how, even with over 90% of the sun covered, it still gave off so much light, I couldn’t help but think of the light that is God. In spite of all the bad things that happen in the world, the light of God still shines brightly.

‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.’ (John 1:5)

Knowing God, means knowing that, despite all the evil in the world, good will prevail. This is a truth that has sustained believers throughout the ages. It has enabled them to cope with both disaster and persecution, knowing that a rich reward awaited them.

‘Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven,’ (Matthew 5:12a)

As we go about our daily lives, we know that not everything will go as we want, but we can take comfort in knowing that, in the same way that the sun could still shine its light on the earth when 90% of it was obscured by the moon, so too we can look past the adversities of life to glimpse God’s love and all He has in store for His people. Why? because

‘God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.’ (1 John 1:5b)

Many blessings,

Carl