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Do You Have To See To Believe?

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He had been talking about the upcoming lunar eclipse for days. Charting the moon for weeks for a school project. Explaining to me the science behind it all. Clearly I slept through elementary school science. It never was my favorite subject.

I awoke at 5:00am like every morning, stumbled my way to the coffee machine, and remembered. God was putting on a show. My mind jolted awake without the first sip of coffee. Disabling the alarm, I slipped out the door. The cool air enveloped me, my bare feet tiptoed down the driveway. I looked up. And stopped. Not because of the moon, or the eclipse, or anything seemingly out of the ordinary. Something washed over me. God awed me.

The stars shone with brilliance. Bright, beaming lights in the sky. Clouds moved with such sweet grace that my feet planted right there. Sounds of night played in the background. All was calm. All was bright. Even in the darkness. Isn’t that just like God. 

I made my way further down the driveway, looking in every direction for the moon. I found it. I watched speechless as the fullness of the moon became less visible. I watched the outline of the darkened part, knowing that the darkness would be overcome in moments by the brilliance of the sun. Speechless.

The Son overcame darkness on the cross. One day darkness will be forever overcome. And we wait.

I had to wake Jacob. No way could he miss this. I flew at full speed up the stairs not caring that it was in the 5:00 hour still. Not caring that he might be crazy tired and had to give an oral presentation. He couldn’t miss what God was revealing. Opening his door I made my way over clothes strewn across the floor, patting the bed to find his body still in a deep sleep. Lowering my face to his, I whispered, “Jacob. Jacob. Get up. Come see the eclipse with me. It’s beautiful! But hurry we won’t be able to see it long from our house.”

Rubbing his eyes, he followed me downstairs. I threw a blanket over his shoulders, and together we watched the display of sheer magnificence. “God is amazing. Absolutely amazing.” We watched the last sliver of light disappear. Jacob said, “Mom in about 30 minutes the sun will color the moon to orangish red.”

30 minutes later we made it outside but couldn’t see the moon anywhere. So we crossed the street, moved around, desperately I wanted to see this. I’d been watching for it for over an hour. I had to see this part. The ending. The climax of this event.

Isn’t that how it goes sometimes? We see His work and His power and His magnificence. We wait for more. We wait for the conclusion. We want to see the ending. We want to see the totality. Then we don’t see it, and our shoulders slump, and we walk away. And we forget that because we don’t see doesn’t mean He isn’t still working. What I couldn’t see, someone else could see. Seeing or not, God is always doing.

God displays for us all day every day. Just like an eclipse. This time we all went looking for it. We were all anticipating what God would show us. What if we anticipated encounters with Him like this every day? He does it. Do you believe it?

And then. Through the trees, so far in the distance we had to stand on our toes and crane our necks. A bright orange spot. Brighter. Brighter. Brighter. “Jacob! There it is! Look!” And just like that a cloud, moving with such sweet grace, spread its blanket of cover. We saw no more.

“I can’t believe we only saw a glimpse. For just like 3 seconds.”

He turned his body to face mine. “Mom, at least we got to see even 3 seconds.”

Glimpses of God. They are a gift. We don’t deserve to even see the glimpses.

I felt shaken that morning. Maybe shaken isn’t a good word. Jolted? Awakened? Revived? Alive? Awed? Speechless.

Isn’t that just like God? To leave us speechless. Oh that my entire life would be devoted to serving Him. To knowing Him. To making Him known.

Where do you see God today? Look for Him. He is in every moment. Seek Him.

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