Don't look! Up in the sky!

"take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven"

Deuteronomy 4:19

Did you hear about our solar eclipse last week?  Several southwestern states, along with a few Asian countries got a great view of an annular eclipse.  For us, the best sighting was dinner time ~ between 5:30 and 6:30.  We had made one of those pinhole cards for indirect viewing, and we were out in the backyard casting shadows to see if we could tell yet, how much of the sun was being eclipsed.  It was hard to tell, though without looking directly at the sun, which all the experts strongly caution you not to do.

The green tint is the welder's mask.  Awesome Girl held the camera inside the mask for these.

But then we went out in the front yard, where some of our neighbors had gathered.  One of our neighbors is a welder, and the shield on his welder’s mask protected our eyes well enough that we could look directly at the sun, and see it being eclipsed by the moon, little by little.  

The sight of the sun being blocked out is fascinating.  We knew we were viewing something that doesn’t happen very often, so it was exciting, and educational.  But there were other interesting effects, too.  

This one is from behind a heavily tinted piece of plastic.

First of all, the temperature.  The light of the sun was impacted for about an hour total, and the more of it the moon blocked, the more the temperature dropped.  It didn’t feel like winter or anything, but there was a noticeable 10-15 degree difference at the time the sun was at full eclipse.  Literally it was like going from sun to shade in a matter of minutes ~ except we weren’t in the shade.

Secondly, the light changed.  There is still so much sun shining around the moon, even at full eclipse, that there was still plenty of light.  And yet, it was different.  It wasn’t like early morning, or early evening, when the sun is hidden by the horizon.  It wasn’t like a cloudy day; there was too much light for that.  Even as I chatted with my neighbor, I still had to shield my eyes with my hand as I was facing the sun.  The closest thing I can compare it to, was memories from my childhood, of when a thunderstorm was coming.  Where we live now, we rarely have thunder and lightning, but where I grew up, we had plenty.   And I remember, in the last minutes before the clouds took over the sky, the sky often had a greenish-yellow tint to it.    That’s what this reminded me of.  Not exactly like that, but there was a weird, cool-colored tint to the sky, even though there wasn’t a cloud anywhere.

But the other thing that really struck me is that you couldn’t look directly at the sun.  Well, you could, really, but more than that, you shouldn’t.   My eyes are pretty sensitive to the light normally, and I wear sunglasses when I'm outside.  But even so, I really wanted to look up and see the sun, even when it wasn't my turn to use the mask as a shield.  We were sort of passing it around, and I got a turn more than once, but in the in-between times, I wanted to peek.  And it felt like it would be okay, because the sun clearly wasn't as bright and hot as usual.  

But you still can't look.  The sun's rays have just as much power to damage your retina as they do at any other time.  So I had to quash my curiosity, and stifle the urge to look at the eclipse with my unprotected eyes.

God is the same way.  In Exodus 33, Moses said to Him, "Please show me Your glory."  And God responded, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.  I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  But you cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live." 

And I don't even think God was saying, "you may not"; I think he was saying, "You can not."  I think we simply can't handle it.  He is too bright, too magnificent, too glorious.  I don't even think we can handle full knowledge of Him.  Our brains are too finite, too earthbound to comprehend all that He is.   What He has revealed to us in His word, is beauty and knowledge enough for us, accompanied by glimpses of His love through the people around us. 

At least, for now... 

~ "Beloved, we know that when He is revealed,

we shall be like Him,

for we shall see Him as He is" ~

1 John 3:2