Summer Meditations: Total Eclipse of the...

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

The Great American Eclipse! I’m sure most people in the United States have been saturated with information about this natural phenomenon that we are about the experience in a few days. By now, most of us are very familiar with everything about it, from the safest glasses to wear to be able to see it, to the top viewing spots. For some, the eclipse will be total, and even though it will be fast, the event will obscure the sun for approximately 2 minutes and 40 seconds, plunging the area where it is visible, into a sort of twilight in the middle of the day.

I don’t think I have ever experienced a total eclipse of the sun (am I the only person who wants to break out in song every time they begin to say the phrase, “total eclipse…”? It’s not funny anymore!) Anyway, I’ve never experienced one, but I’m sure it could be creepy. It has to be an assault to one’s senses. One second it is bright and sunny (unless you live in my neck of the woods, of course…where it is always dark and cloudy…) and the next thing you know, it is dark…I mean, c’mon? How do you prepare for that? I guess, that’s why there has been such a proliferation of information about. So, people can become as prepared as possible and the event doesn’t catch them by surprise.

Hmmm…

Darkness is not something most people are comfortable with. I’m sure that at the thought of darkness, many if not everyone shudders. I doubt it, however, that there is anyone who can honestly say that he/she has been able to escape going through moments of darkness. I haven’t. And, unlike for the Great American Eclipse, I have not been prepared to face it. All of the sudden, my bright, sunny day has become obscured by circumstances outside of my control, which were not even within my radar, and I have not known how to handle it. In the midst of such unexpected night of the soul, I have done nothing but panic.

To be honest, however, there have been other times in which…I have chosen darkness as my path. I have voluntarily walked into darkness. I have desired it. I have hidden in it.

I have deliberately turned away from the Light, because the Light is just too bright for my weakened eyes to withstand.

Sigh…

So, I have dwelled in the dark. Rather than keeping my eyes on the One who is Light, I have chosen the shadows that lead to nothing but spiritual death…not realizing that, even when the Light seems too bright when I am in the pit, there is a Divine Shadow outside of the great hole, under which I can take refuge until healing comes, instead of cornering deeper into the abyss. It is the Shadow of His Wings!

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91: 4

At those times when I have chosen darkness, I forget that there is an alternative to dwelling in pestilence:

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91: 1

I have to remember that the darkness of this world is never an option. In those moments when the weakness of my flesh takes over and I want to hide because of my shame, I need to hide in Him!

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91: 2

On Monday, some of us will have the privilege to experience an amazing and rare natural phenomenon. As we do, let’s remember that the Light of God is never darkened because

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139: 12