Exodus 12:14....
It was very late in the night of Monday April 14th when I made my way with family and several friends up into a semi secluded overlook in the desert. Our goal was to have a prime spot to view the 'Blood Moon' a location where the city lights would not dim the natural splendor on display, and did we ever find the right spot. About a quarter mile off of the highway on the exit to the Four Peaks is a scenic overlook. When you look toward the east it is all the pristine silence and darkness of desert and mountains, but toward the west the lemony glow of the city warms and overruns the sky with signs of human life. We arrived just a bit before midnight and the moon stood center stage in the sky. The eclipse had begun about twenty minutes prior and about a third of its silvery glow was already covered in shadow.
As I stepped out of the vehicle into the cool night air I felt an overwhelming need to be away from people...away from the things of man. I love my family and friends and I loved sharing this event with them, but I had an ache to just be in silence with my creator and His creation. I moved down the road far enough away from everyone that I could no longer distinguish the sounds of their voices and they begin to blend like the chorus of so many crickets lifting their song on the breeze. I walked until I felt myself surrounded by nothing but earth and moonlight. I leaned myself against a wooden fence framing the edges of the road and gazed up at that great moon...thinking.
I am by nature a thinker, I contemplate and mull over things that most people would recognize as silly or not necessary. I am in a constant state of wonderment. How is .....made? Why does ......work? Who is in charge of .....? What if .....happens? Always questions and sometimes answers, my brain never stops asking. As the muscles and nerves in my neck began to cry out in pain from five, ten and twenty minutes of craning my eyes upward; my mind never once tired from asking its maker. What, if anything, does this mean? This amazing display playing out before my eyes...does it have a deeper significance? Are the 'blood moon prophecies' something I should be considering or worrying about? If not, is there something special and significant about this eclipse beyond the omnipotent hand that has made it visible to me? Slowly, slowly, like a room fading in and out of focus when you are suffering from a migraine, something of a glimmer took shape in my mind. Something I could feel, but not quite put words to. Something I knew I had to focus on if I wanted to grasp in even the slightest degree. 'There is something!', my heart cried out to my muddled mind, 'Focus!'.
I slowly meandered my way back to the group, smiling and responding to their light conversation...but still pondering. As the moon came into full eclipse I looked up again and decided I did not like this color at all. It wasn't really a 'blood' moon. It wasn't really even very red at all. If anything it was an 'Iron' moon, and not nearly as beautiful as the silvery glow I knew and loved. Why was it even given the name 'Blood Moon'? I sat myself down on a folding chair and stared out at the desert beyond me. The desert...what would it be like to be out there, walking in the desert? Trying to cross it without the convenience of a vehicle, with everything I owned in tow.
I thought of the Israelites wandering in lands, possibly much like the scenery before me. How did they accomplish such a task? Unimaginable. When I glanced back up at the moon everything shifted suddenly into focus. A Blood Moon....today is Passover. Passover, the day of memorial unto the Lord. I thought of all the families of Egypt on that first Passover. How traumatic it must have been. What kind of suffering did they go through because of the decisions of their leaders who would not allow the Israelites to leave? What must it have been like for an Israelite family? Huddled closely in their homes that night, did they hear the cries of grief from their friends and neighbors? What would it be like to know that such a great sacrifice of life had to be made, for your freedom to be assured? Sacrifice. No freedom ever comes without first paying its price through sacrifice.
I sat there in the darkness and unashamedly allowed the tears to roll uninhibited down my cheeks. I asked my God and Father to forgive me for the moments when I forget what sacrifices have gone before me. To help me to remember always that I am not exempt from the need to sacrifice in my life. Sacrifice is required from me, just as it was given for me.
Perhaps some need to attach a prophetic significance to the events of these four lunar eclipses. Perhaps it is a prophetic signaling of the end of things as we know them. I cannot say whether or not it is a prophetic sign and although I enjoy asking questions I'm not going to concern myself with that particular one. Instead I will tell you what I know in my heart. The wonder of creation is made and controlled by my loving Heavenly Father who wants me to enter into His rest when I reach the end of this life. He has set the Passover as a memorial to His household forever, to remember His saving power and the sacrifice required for salvation. His beautiful display of the lunar eclipse reminded me of those who have trusted in Him long before my time and followed Him faithfully and I want to be the same example for those who follow after me.
