What is man that You take thought of him?
Psalms 8:3-4 What is man that God thinks of us and sets the moon and stars that He has created into orbits that produce wonders like eclipses? God loves us.
Photo ©2023, Steven Sande. Maximum annular eclipse on October 14, 2023 from Torrey, Utah. The moon is blocking all but a “ring of fire” from the sun’s disk.
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?”
Psalms 8:3-4 NASB1995
This is a bit of a different Heaven On Wheels post today. Barb and I have been on a trip for eight days now through southern Colorado and now into Utah. Our goal was Torrey, Utah, which is the gateway to Capitol Reef National Park, to see the October 14, 2023 annular solar eclipse.
This was our third “full” eclipse — we’ve seen plenty of partial eclipses as well as two total solar eclipses (where the sun is completely blocked by the moon’s disk) and now this annular solar eclipse (where the moon is a bit further out, smaller in apparent diameter, and doesn’t totally block the sun).
As someone who has enjoyed astronomy my entire life, eclipses represent another representation of God’s hand at work in His creation. Who else could make a planet replete with men and women who can appreciate His wonders and put the moon at precisely the distance from the Earth that it will produce total and annular eclipses?
During a total eclipse, the moon PRECISELY covers the sun’s disk — a planetoid 238,855 miles away from Earth (on average) blocking a much larger star 92,955,807 miles away. That isn’t a coincidence. It’s yet another example of a loving God who created a universe to make us both appreciate His handiwork and try to (and fail) explain how His creations work!
Photo ©2017, Steven Sande. The total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, showing the solar corona (the outer atmosphere of the Sun, consisting of plasma at over one million degrees Fahrenheit.
What is man that God thinks of us and sets the moon and stars that He has created into orbits that produce wonders like eclipses? God loves us. Can we ever love Him as much as He loves us?
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
When I see Your wonders at work, Father, I know that You love us completely and I thank You for Your creation. Thank You for the miracle of the October 14, 2023 annular solar eclipse that You planned at the creation of Your universe, and for sharing it with us. AMEN.