"The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands" Psalm 19:1
On April 8th 2024 a total solar eclipse was visible across many parts of America. At the moment of totality in Texas, on the BBC news coverage a man watching could be heard proclaiming “the glory of God!” as he witnessed this amazing spectacle. But wasn’t it just a cosmic coincidence?
Eclipses happen because the sun is both 400 times bigger than the moon and 400 times further away.
But rather than being just an interesting bit of trivia, the relative sizes and positions of the sun and moon are essential for the existence of life on Earth. The sun is just the right size and distance from Earth for there to be liquid water, perhaps the most vital ingredient for life to exist. Our moon is large, relative to other moons, and this is necessary to keep the Earth tilted so that we get seasonal change. The gravitational pull of the moon causes tides, which circulate warmer water in the oceans and the nutrients needed to support marine life.
Eclipses also open up an otherwise impossible field of scientific discovery. As the moon perfectly covers the face of the sun, scientists can observe areas of the sun that there is no other way to observe from Earth. The unique conditions during an eclipse provide valuable insight into the Earth’s atmosphere and the sun’s effect on it. Helium was discovered, and Einstein’s theory of relativity was proved, during eclipses.
So, rather than coincidence, could these things point to a God who not only created the perfect conditions to support His creatures on Earth, but also ensured that those conditions were the same as those required for us to discover His creation? Surely “the Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands”! (Psalm 19:1)
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