Jump Start # 4068
Psalm 147:4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
It was fascinating to follow the recent Artemis II space voyage around the moon. For those of my generation, it brought up memories of Apollo and the missions to the moon. Space is a fascinating study. My high school not only had an astronomy class, which I loved, but we had a planetarium.
Our verse today not only shows the wisdom of God but it reveals His greatness. Our Milky Way, where our solar system lies, contains between 100 billion and 400 billion stars. Astro physicists estimate that there are at least 200 billion galaxies, each containing at least 100 million stars. That would be 2 with 17 zeros following. And, that’s what we know at the present time. Our verse says that God has a name for all of the stars. There are only 170,000 words in the English language. That would not even cover the stars in the Milky Way, let alone the other 200 billion galaxies with all their stars. That is beyond our comprehension.
This shows us many things:
First, there is no end to creation. Why did the Lord make so many galaxies? We are seeing things now that no other humans have ever seen. Moses didn’t see what we can see. Abraham when he looked to the night sky never saw all that we can see today. Creation is a reflection of God. And, just as there is no end to creation, there is no end to our God. There is no end to His blessings. There is no end to His forgiveness. Our God is so big, the children sing in VBS. Maybe we adults ought to start singing that as well.
Second, I wonder what language God speaks. In one way, God speaks all languages. When He first spoke to Adam, was it Hebrew? To have a language that can name all the stars, billions upon billions of stars is something beyond us. And, with this vast and incredible knowledge, God can speak to us through His word in such a way that we can understand it. The Lord’s powerful sermon on the mount is not difficult to understand. One does not have to hold a Bible in one hand and a dictionary in the other to understand it. The difficulty is in applying and living up to those noble and grand words of our Lord.
Third, if the Lord allows the world to continue on, future generations will learn, see and know things that we do not. I sometimes wonder if the Lord is amazed at how long it took us to find and figure things out. We can think that we are pretty smart, but the future holds mysteries that are yet to be discovered.
Here is another interesting aspect of stars. When we look at them at night, what we are seeing is the light that is from the past. It takes a long time for the light to reach us. For instance, the nearest star beyond our sun is Proxima Centauri. It takes more than four years for the light from that star to reach earth. So we are seeing something from the past. Sirius, the brightest star in our sky, takes more than eight years for its light to reach us.
You and I sure seem insignificant and small when we consider space. Yet, it us that God has focused upon. We are the ones created in His image. Christ died for us. It is the Lord who notices the death of a small bird and numbers the very hairs on our head. The concentration of the Lord is upon humanity, not space. The promises He holds to involve us, not the stars. God sends the rains and the sunshine upon our world. God knows when you lie down (Ps 139). God hears our prayers. God is our strength.
A third grade school teacher was trying to teach her class about the size of the universe and space. She told the class to go out in their backyard at night and count the stars. The next day they were to report what they found. One boy said he counted 345 stars. Another said there were a thousand. The smartest kid claimed there were a million bizzon stars. One boy didn’t hold his hand up. When the teacher asked if he counted any stars, he said that he counted three. The teacher said, “Only three?” The boy replied that he had a small backyard.
I wonder if we have a small view of God.
Roger