Yesterday, there was an article on the BBC that said over 300 couples got married in Russellville during the eclipse. I couldn’t decide if this was a good reason for Arkansas to make international news or not. Also, I’ve had a hard time figuring out what the big deal was with the eclipse itself. Before all the science nerds out there start throwing things at me, I do appreciate the significance of the phenomenon on some levels. It’s kind of crazy that the moon is at the perfect distance, and it is the perfect size to perfectly obscure the sun, providing shade for all of our newly wed friends. I understand it happens so irregularly and even more infrequently so close to where we live. 

But as I read other articles telling how people flew across the world or travelled for hours up and down the line of totality to make sure they had a clear sky viewing opportunity – I started to wonder to myself, “Why is this such a big deal to so many people?” So, I turned to Google and the responses varied, but one psychologist put forth a theory that people are drawn to astronomical events, like our most recent one, because they evoke a sense of awe. Moreover, this psychologist (whose name I am now forgetting…) suggested that people crave awe, and will go to great lengths to experience it.

Kirby (our youth pastor at Christ Church) and I meet up every other week to hang out and read Hebrews. This morning, we read chapter 12. In it the Holy Spirit is saying (get ready for my paraphrase here), “Y’all thought Mt. Sinai was crazy, shaking, and burning with fire – don’t forget, there will come a day when our God, who is Himself a consuming fire, will shake everything.” Basically, the Israelites awe before God’s display at a mountain somewhere deep in the wilderness of Saudi Arabia long ago was just a foretaste of what we will experience when He returns.

In the meantime, like a very good dad (Hebrews 12 says) He shakes us a little now. Not carelessly. Not because He’s in a bad mood. Not just to get back at us for sin. He shakes us a little now to make us more like Him. The fancy word used is “sanctification,” where we share in His holiness. All for the purpose of preparing us to live in a Kingdom that cannot be shaken. One that will last forever. Give Hebrews 12 a read – it’s kind of crazy. All of the earth and all of heaven (including the moon and sun we watched meet a few days ago) will pass away.

What will be left is a new eternal city, the New Jerusalem, located on a new earth where sin and death are no more and where the Kingdom of our God will never end. That’s not a “maybe,” it’s not “one possibility,” it’s a definite certainty. Both His preparation of my soul through daily shaking and that coming reality should evoke a deep sense of awe. Wonder. Gratitude. Peace. The kinds of things people fly halfway around the world for, just with the hope of catching a glimpse. I don’t know about you, but my daily life would be remarkably better if I actually lived as if all of history were headed to that conclusion.