The Word for today:
Psalms 9, 10
mark this: Psalm 8:3-4
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Why are there so many stars? What is the cosmos doing out there? Is it just "taking up space?"
Certainly the stars have a physical purpose. The gravitational constant depends on their presence! But the stars have another purpose. In fact, they have a story to tell:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
(Psalms 19:1-4)
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
(Psalms 19:1-4)
What are the stars telling us? Yesterday, we provided some background for that question. Today, we'll offer an answer.
***
The awesomeness of creation has been the subject of famous biblical poems like Job 38, Psalms 19, 33, 136, and Isaiah 45. Isaiah 40 references creation repeatedly, culminating in this expression:
"To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?"
says the Holy One.
Look up at the sky!
Who created all these heavenly lights?
He is the one who leads out their ranks;
he calls them all by name.
Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,
not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:25-26)
"To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?"
says the Holy One.
Look up at the sky!
Who created all these heavenly lights?
He is the one who leads out their ranks;
he calls them all by name.
Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,
not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:25-26)
The power and the splendor, the majesty and the infinite reach of God's creation gives us pause. It causes each of us to wonder, "Why in the world would he bother with me?"--
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him? (Psalms 8:3-4)
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him? (Psalms 8:3-4)
Some look for answers in the stars. But the stars weren't made to provide answers. Indeed, they clearly show us that we don't have all the answers.
More than anything else, the stars were made to make us wonder:
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
"Awesome wonder" will prevail in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the only rational response to a God who will never be contained by his ever expanding creation:
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. (Isaiah 9:7)
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. (Isaiah 9:7)
Our perceptions of him might sometimes get stuck in neutral, but it must be understood that God is never confined by our perception! Puny faith and tiny intellects don't leash the Lion of Judah. They only shackle us.
God is never contained and never confined. That's the story the stars are telling.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder...
How I wonder...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Franklyn: "How I wonder." Thank God I no longer have to wonder. He has revealed Himself to me, as He will to everyone who diligently seeks Him, Jeremiah 29:13. But as you know one must dig with their whole heart, Ps. 119:10. And yet He is not far from us, Acts 17:27. But for most of us the real hurdle is that one must believe that He IS, Heb. 11:6.
ReplyDeleteOnce you realize that your very life at every moment is supplied by HIM and your power to reason only operates because of His continual energy, do you come to grips with the fact, your power to think is actually His power to communicate to you. "Cogito ergo sum." "I think therefore I am, therefore He Is!
Yowza! That's the spiritual stratosphere. That's Habakkuk 3:19!
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