“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)

A total solar eclipse is awesome in the true sense of the word. If you are in the path of totality, you can see the moon pass directly between the sun and your location on Earth. A dusky darkness covers everything. After a few minutes, the moon continues on its way, and full sunlight returns.

This experience may trigger a thought, a parallel to the times of “darkness” we experience in each of our lives. We lose a loved one, experience a health or financial setback, or are betrayed by a trusted friend. All these events can bring on a “personal eclipse” of our faith if we focus on the darkness.

In an eclipse, the moon does not affect the sun’s light-generating abilities, but it does affect our reception of the light. So the sun shines just like it does every day, and the darkness we experience is limited in intensity, location, and duration. While our trials may seem like total darkness has settled over us, we must remember that just as the sun continues to shine uninterrupted behind the moon during a total eclipse, God is still there shining His goodness over our lives.

“He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him” (Psalm 91:15). God does not promise believers a trouble-free life on this earth, but His promise to be with us in our troubles is what we need to cling to until our personal eclipse passes. Ultimately, for the believer all darkness will be eliminated. “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). DWR