Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the better part of a year, you’ve probably heard the news sometimes translated as “furor,” “uproar,” or “consternation”about the total solar eclipse our nation will be experiencing on April 8th. Lodgings in the path of totality across 15 states have been sold out for months. Food and gasoline shortages and traffic snarls predicated on all the visitors flocking in to see it from out of state and around the world are expected. Oklahoma is prepared to deploy its National Guard to help keep order, and Indiana has already declared a statewide emergency.

The Bible is clear that God speaks to us through nature and signs in the heavens, with more than 100 verses mentioning this. What might not be as clear right is: What is God saying to us right now through this event? We’re not going to try to tell you anything definitively about that, or whether the five-fold ministry which includes the apostolic and prophetic offices, as well as the more commonly accepted ones of evangelists, teachers, and preachers still exists today. We understand that our readers encompass a wide variety of ecumenical flavors. But what we can say for certain is that the Bible tells us two things: God always tells His prophets before He takes significant action Amos 3:7 and that a thing is established by the testimony of two or three witnesses 2 Corinthians 13:1 In this case, there are more than two or three witnesses telling us several things and they are remarkably similar. Whether you believe in modern-day prophecy or not, that warrants some attention.

The key to what this means for us may lie in Jonah 3: Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. verses 4-10

The Bible tells us a couple of other important things that are extremely relevant right now, too. One is found in Isaiah 60: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. verses 1-3

I think we can all agree the darkness is pretty gross right now. The other takeaway is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14. Let’s read this with some emphasis added: If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, THEN I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

For that reason, I personally would like to encourage every person reading this to consider taking part in a 40-day fast of some kind. Some people might be hard-core enough to only drink water for that time; others might do a Daniel fast; still others might go without social media or other things that take up hours of their time every day in order to pray. Find a gathering of other believers to join with, either in person or online; dedicate yourselves to it corporately, just as the disciples did in the Upper Room.

We may not know all the answers to those questions but what have we got to lose by trying? Perhaps the answer to that question is found in Esther 4:14, when Mordecai tells his niece about the grave situation their people face, and the powerful opportunity that lies before her:

Thank you for your faithful support! I send you much love your way🙏🏻❤️