Is your star in the ascendant? It could be an iridium flare...
Happy Valentine's Day! Even if you've got no one to share it with, take heart. But don't be looking to the stars. The idea of "star-crossed lovers" originated from astrology. So, too, did the phrases, "lucky stars", "blue moon", "rising star", etc. The pull and play that the planets have had on culture and society for thousands of years has taken its toll. Yet astrology still remains a mystery to me. A mystery as to why people decide to base their lives on the pattern and courses of celestial bodies billions of miles—lightyears—away. With no discernible reason (trust me, I've checked) as to why certain planets and certain postitions hold the qualities they do. For good or ill. Positive and negative. Because by the time the light from the stars reaches earth—to where we're able to observe and report—some of those very stars are long dead. It's the natural order of things.
The Middle Ages were a period of great superstition and pseudoscience. There was a time when astrology was considered one of the higher sciences. Really, astrology has been revered and practiced as far back in history as Sumeria. Traveling forward through Babylonia, Greece and Rome. The early Catholic church thought astrology to be valid. But just because there are references in the Bible to "the stars in their courses" (Judges 5:20) and "Mazzaroth" and "Arcturus" (essentially the Zodiac and the constellation Ursa Major, see Job 38:32) doesn't mean that these signs are imbued with the power to make one life a certain way and another, another. I will say this though, I have seen people cast horoscopes and have the same show a disconcerting, if horrifying, amount of accuracy about a person's life. And this is where it gets scary.
When people in their ignorance bestow belief in the inherent power of the "stars in their courses" to direct them in their life, even if they cite the Bible as validating astrology, they have not surrendered control to Jesus. As much as they think their life is beyond their control, they still seek to remain in control rather than let Jesus guide them. Only He is true north. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27) Follow Jesus. Keep your face to the Son.
"Praise ye Him, sun and moon: praise Him, all ye stars of light." (Psalm 148:3)
"Which spreadeth out the heavens..." (Job 9:8)
One night many years ago, as I lugged a sack of trash out the back door, I turned to see a shooting star streak (actually, it was only a meteorite) across the sky. This formed a watershed in my life, as I began to see that God has to have all of our steps in order, in order to show us a most minute, yet beautiful phenomenon, as a shooting star. Conversely, a similar event happened later on, where I saw a bright flash of light in the sky which in turn flared out and then shoot downward, much like a dying star. This was, however, an iridium flare which, of course, is a glint of light off of a satellite's solar panel that, for a fraction of a second has turned toward the sun, reflecting the light back to earth. Each incident only means as much as I've explained. The miracle lies in the fact that God would allow me, out of all the things I could have been thinking about and doing, to see each one in turn and watch the clockwork precision of God's hand. Nothing more, except for the fact that this same God loves us unconditionally. Which leads me to my ultimate point regarding astrology.
"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth..." (John 16:13)
When Jesus by His Spirit recreates us, we are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." (1 Peter 1:23) What Peter is saying here is that the truths of God's word are the overarching and deciding qualities that we as Christians live by now. For the stars and planets to have negative aspects, by definition, as part of their reign, is totally against God's plan of salvation. And I'm so surprised that those during the Middle Ages could not see this. But hey, they weren't called the "Dark Ages" for nothing.
"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory." (1 Corinthians 15:41) 'Nuff said. Don't let anyone but God tell you who you're meant to be with. The same person who created the stars made someone for you. You'll collide in His time.