Jan 8 Creation – Infinite Universe

I love Psalm 8!

Written by King David, it makes me wonder how many times he must have gazed up at the stars in the heavens and contemplated You, the Creator of it all. As a shepherd, he would have spent many, many nights outside with the sheep; resting, guarding the flock, alone with his thoughts.

The skies where I live are never really dark. We have the light from a major city and suburbs all around. The stars are visible, but not nearly as impressive as when I saw them from the middle of the Sinai Peninsula!

We stepped out of a bus on a lonely road in a part of the world where light pollution is not even a remote issue, and were completely amazed at the number and brilliance of stars visible to our naked eye.

It was one of those “awe” moments. You just stand, mouth agape, drinking in the magnitude of the millions of stars.

It makes you oddly aware of how huge the universe is, stretching out before your eyes; and how small and minuscule a single person is, standing on one spot of one planet in one solar system of one galaxy in that universe.

Today, the skies above the hills around Jerusalem are also filled with light. But how dark it must have been back then. How truly bright and brilliant the night sky must have been when one lonely shepherd looked up and pondered the universe and its Maker.

God, You truly have set Your glory in the heavens.  And “when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have made and set in place” – I also marvel that “You are mindful of man.”

 Who am I that You concern Yourself with what concerns me?

How is it that You can know the number of hairs on my head: a number that changes every day?

And You don’t just know me by what You see on the outside, You know my innermost thoughts, my motivations, my words before I speak them.

Thank You for taking such care creating this amazing place You made for us to live. Its beauty, its vastness, and its infinite diversity blow my mind! Its magnitude is incomprehensible.

As much as I can know about this world in my lifetime, I can never begin to understand all the things You hold in balance so this planet stays together and is capable of supporting the lives You’ve placed on it.

But I can give You the credit due.

You alone are the Author, the Creator, the imagination and the power behind its creation. I can acknowledge that it is You who keeps it all together and in motion. And honor You as Almighty God.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Amen

Psalm 8:1-9

Aug 23 There is none like You

“Your wisdom is profound, Your power is vast. You move mountains …You shake the earth from its place…
You speak to the sun and it does not shine, You seal off the light of the stars. You alone stretch out the heavens and tread on the waves of the sea. “

“You are the maker of the Bear and Orion (northern constellations), the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. You perform wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”

Father, these words of Job’s remind me of the immenseness of Your power.
The vastness of who You are.
The enormity of Your creation.
It reminds me of how limited man is in his ability to comprehend all You are, all You have created and all You have done.

I look up at the stars, and I see tiny lights in the sky.  On a clear night, I can see a lot of them.  But ambient light from the city screens much of what is truly there.

When I was in Egypt, our bus was traveling at night on a lonely dark highway.  We stopped in the middle of the Sinai and walked some distance into the desert to look up.  You could hear the gasps as we all saw the magnificent display of stars as we had never seen them before!

We were drenched in darkness, but looking up at the sky saw thousands of tiny lights we had never been able to perceive, brilliantly sparkling from horizon to horizon.  What an amazing display of Your grandeur

Later, here in Colorado I took a group of friends to a nearby observatory.   It housed a refracting telescope with a 20 inch diameter lens.  The lens is seated in a 26 foot long tube, mounted on a 20 foot tall stand and pointed at the sky.  We each took our turn climbing up to the viewing end of the telescope that was pointed at the Orion Nebula – the star at the tip of the sword held on Orion’s belt.

What I had seen as a fuzzy point of light, exploded with clarity!  Brilliant light and clusters of stars in differing stages of birth and aging.  Bright and discernible stars now filled my view. 

What had been viewed as one pinpoint in a haze was actually a nursery where new stars were being born!  Within the cloud I could now see several distinct, individual stars and cloud clusters.  How amazing!  All this, and more, You stretched out with Your hand.

The very limits of human perception cannot even begin to see, much less understand Your immensity.  Your imagination and creativity are magnificent and immeasurable.  There is none like You.  Amen

Job 9:1-22

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210813.html

M42 Wisps of the Orion Nebula © Jon Christensen

Jan 8 Creation – Infinite Universe!

I love Psalm 8!

Written by King David, it makes me wonder how many times he must have gazed up at the stars in the heavens and contemplated You, the Creator of it all. As a shepherd, he would have spent many, many nights outside with the sheep; resting, guarding the flock, alone with his thoughts.

The skies where I live are never really dark. We have the light from a major city and suburbs all around. The stars are visible, but not nearly as impressive as when I saw them from the middle of the Sinai Peninsula!

We stepped out of a bus on a lonely road in a part of the world where light pollution is not even a remote issue, and were completely amazed at the number and brilliance of stars visible to our naked eye.

It was one of those “awe” moments. You just stand, mouth agape, drinking in the magnitude of the millions of stars.

It makes you oddly aware of how huge the universe is, stretching out before your eyes; and how small and minuscule a single person is, standing on one spot of one planet in one solar system of one galaxy in that universe.

Today, the skies above the hills around Jerusalem are also filled with light. But how dark it must have been back then. How truly bright and brilliant the night sky must have been when one lonely shepherd looked up and pondered the universe and its Maker.

God, You truly have set Your glory in the heavens.  And “when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have made and set in place” – I also marvel that “You are mindful of man.”

 Who am I that You concern Yourself with what concerns me?

How is it that You can know the number of hairs on my head: a number that changes every day?

And You don’t just know me by what You see on the outside, You know my innermost thoughts, my motivations, my words before I speak them.

Thank You for taking such care creating this amazing place You made for us to live. Its beauty, its vastness, and its infinite diversity blow my mind! Its magnitude is incomprehensible.

As much as I can know about this world in my lifetime, I can never begin to understand all the things You hold in balance so this planet stays together and is capable of supporting the lives You’ve placed on it.

But I can give You the credit due.

You alone are the Author, the Creator, the imagination and the power behind its creation. I can acknowledge that it is You who keeps it all together and in motion. And honor You as Almighty God.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Amen

Psalm 8:1-9

Aug 23 There is none like You!

“Your wisdom is profound, Your power is vast.  You move mountains …You shake the earth from its place…You speak to the sun and it does not shine, You seal off the light of the stars.  You alone stretch out the heavens and tread on the waves of the sea. “

 “You are the maker of the Bear and Orion (northern constellations), the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.  You perform wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”

Father, these words of Job’s remind me of the immenseness of Your power.

The vastness of who You are.

The enormity of Your creation.

It reminds me of how limited man is in his ability to comprehend all You are, all You have created and all You have done.

I look up at the stars, and I see tiny lights in the sky.  On a clear night, I can see a lot of them.  But ambient light from the city screens much of what is truly there. 

When I was in Egypt, our bus was traveling at night on a lonely dark highway.  We stopped in the middle of the Sinai and walked a ways into the desert to look up.  You could hear the gasps as we all saw the magnificent display of stars as we had never seen them before!  

We were drenched in darkness, but looking up at the sky saw thousands of tiny lights we had never been able to perceive, brilliantly sparkling from horizon to horizon.  What an amazing display of Your grandeur!

Here in Colorado I took a group of friends to a nearby observatory.   It housed a refracting telescope with a 20 inch diameter lens.  The lens is seated in a 26 foot long tube, mounted on a 20 foot tall stand and pointed at the sky.  We each took our turn climbing up to the viewing end of the telescope that was pointed at the Orion Nebula (the star at the tip of the sword held on Orion’s belt). 

What I had seen as a fuzzy point of light, exploded with clarity!  Brilliant light and clusters of stars in differing stages of birth and aging.  Bright and discernible stars now filled my view. 

What had been viewed as one pinpoint in a haze was actually a nursery where new stars were being born!  Within the cloud I could now see several distinct, individual stars and cloud clusters.  How amazing!  All this, and more, You stretched out with Your hand.

The very limits of human perception cannot even begin to see, much less understand Your immensity.  Your imagination and creativity are magnificent and immeasurable.  There is none like You.  Amen

Job 9:1-22

(NASA picture Orion Nebula) M42 Wisps of the Orion Nebula © Jon Christensen

more NASA photos: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210813.html

 

Jan 8 Creation – Infinite Universe!

I love Psalm 8!

Written by King David, it makes me wonder how many times he must have gazed up at the stars in the heavens and contemplated You, the Creator of it all. As a shepherd, he would have spent many, many nights outside with the sheep; resting, guarding the flock, alone with his thoughts.

The skies where I live are never really dark. We have the light from a major city and suburbs all around. The stars are visible, but not nearly as impressive as when I saw them from the middle of the Sinai Peninsula. We stepped out of a bus on a lonely road in a part of the world where light pollution is not even a remote issue, and were completely amazed at the number and brilliance of stars visible to our naked eye.

It was one of those “awe” moments. You just stand, mouth agape, drinking in the magnitude of the millions of stars. It makes you oddly aware of how huge the universe is, stretching out before your eyes; and how small and minuscule a single person is, standing on one spot of one planet in one solar system of one galaxy in that universe.

Today, the skies above the hills around Jerusalem are also filled with light. But how dark it must have been back then. How truly bright and brilliant the night sky must have been when one lonely shepherd looked up and pondered the universe and its Maker.

God, You truly have set Your glory in the heavens.  And “when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have made and set in place” – I also marvel that “You are mindful of man.”

 Who am I that You concern Yourself with what concerns me?

How is it that You can know the number of hairs on my head: a number that changes every day?

And You don’t just know me by what You see on the outside, You know my innermost thoughts, my motivations, my words before I speak them.

Thank You for taking such care creating this amazing place You made for us to live. Its beauty, its vastness, and its infinite diversity blow my mind! Its magnitude is incomprehensible.

As much as I can know about this world in my lifetime, I can never begin to understand all the things You hold in balance so this planet stays together and is capable of supporting the lives You’ve placed on it.

But I can give You the credit due.

You alone are the Author, the Creator, the imagination and the power behind its creation. I can acknowledge that it is You who keeps it all together and in motion. And honor You as Almighty God.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Amen

Psalm 8:1-9

Dec 21 Not a video game…

Father, what an incredible vision You gave John!

As he describes the scene and the action, it sounds like a great cosmic video game!  But this one does not play out over and over with a reset button when the player fails at the quest.

The revelation John sees here: “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head” and “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.” 

These are not anime characters, but are signs that represent actual happenings.  The woman represents Israel, and the red dragon: satan.  Satan was hurled down to earth and roams here now to “lead the whole world astray.”

The bad news:  “woe to the earth and sea because the devil has gone down to you!  He is filled with fury…”.   The good news: “his time is short.”

Because satan roams the earth in his furious state, and has duped people into following him, I need You, Father, to “keep me safe from the hands of the wicked.”  It is not only the evil one, but also those under his authority who do his biding that I have seen at work.

I know sometimes I don’t make wise choices and must bear the consequences.  In those times Father, I ask for Your forgiveness and Your wisdom to learn from my mistakes.

And other times, I feel attacked; caught by surprise in situations and circumstances I did not anticipate.  I feel entrapped, tripped up, led into places, relationships, emotional states, and difficulties that feel like an oppressive force is orchestrating it all.

When I begin to feel discouraged and hopeless, when I find myself doubting Your goodness and Your love, I know there is some element of evil at work.  Thank You that You have promised to “shield my head in the day of battle.”  Your helmet of salvation protects my thoughts and reminds me of Your truth.  It helps me hold what I am feeling up against the truth of Your Word.

Thank You that I can be sure of Your love for me.  Thank You that I can know without a doubt, that Your purpose and plan for me are good.

Thank You that I know You will never, ever, leave me or forsake me.  And thank You that the devil’s time here on earth is short.  And a time will come when You will triumph over all! 

In the meantime, I “will praise Your name!”

And “live [my life] in Your presence,” in safety, with You as “my strong deliverer” awaiting Your “end game.”   Amen

Revelation 12:1-17; Psalm 140:1-13

Aug 23 There is none like You

“Your wisdom is profound, Your power is vast.  You move mountains …You shake the earth from its place…You speak to the sun and it does not shine, You seal off the light of the stars.  You alone stretch out the heavens and tread on the waves of the sea. “  

 

 

NASA

M42

Wisps of the Orion Nebula (c) Jon Christensen

 

 

“You are the maker of the Bear and Orion (northern constellations), the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.  You perform wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” 

Father, these words of Job’s remind me of the immenseness of Your power.

The vastness of who You are.

The enormity of Your creation.

It reminds me of how limited man is in his ability to comprehend all You are, all You have created and all You have done.

I look up at the stars, and I see tiny lights in the sky.  On a clear night, I can see a lot of them.  But ambient light from the city screens much of what is truly there.

When I was in Egypt, our bus was traveling at night on a lonely dark highway.  We stopped in the middle of the Sinai and walked a ways into the desert to look up.  You could hear the gasps as we all saw the magnificent display of stars as we had never seen them before!

We were drenched in darkness, but looking up at the sky saw thousands of tiny lights we had never been able to perceive, brilliantly sparkling from horizon to horizon.  What an amazing display of Your grandeur!

Here in Colorado I took a group of friends to a nearby observatory.   It housed a refracting telescope with a 20 inch diameter lens.  The lens is seated in a 26 foot long tube, mounted on a 20 foot tall stand and pointed at the sky.  We each took our turn climbing up to the viewing end of the telescope that was pointed at the Orion Nebula (the star at the tip of the sword held on Orion’s belt).

What I had seen as a fuzzy point of light, exploded with clarity!  Brilliant light and clusters of stars in differing stages of birth and aging.  Bright and discernible stars now filled my view.

What had been viewed as one pinpoint in a haze was actually a nursery where new stars were being born!  Within the cloud I could now see several distinct, individual stars and cloud clusters.  How amazing!  All this, and more, You stretched out with Your hand.

The very limits of human perception cannot even begin to see, much less understand Your immensity.  Your imagination and creativity are magnificent and immeasurable.  There is none like You.  Amen

Job 9:1-22

Jan 8 Creation – Infinite Universe

I love Psalm 8! It makes me wonder how many times David must have gazed up at the stars in the heavens and contemplated You, the Creator of it all. As a shepherd, he would have spent many, many nights outside with the sheep; resting, guarding the flock, alone with his thoughts.

The skies where I live are never really dark. We have the light from a major city and suburbs all around. The stars are visible, but not nearly as impressive as when I saw them from the middle of the Sinai Peninsula. We stepped out of a bus on a lonely road in a part of the world where light pollution is not even a remote issue, and were completely amazed at the number and brilliance of stars visible to our naked eye.

It was one of those “awe” moments. You just stand, mouth agape, drinking in the magnitude of the millions of stars. It makes you oddly aware of how huge the universe is, stretching out before your eyes; and how small and minuscule a single person is, standing on one spot of one planet in one solar system of one galaxy in that universe.

Today, the skies above the hills around Jerusalem are also filled with light. But how dark it must have been back then. How truly bright and brilliant the night sky must have been when one lonely shepherd looked up and pondered the universe and its Maker.

God, You truly have set Your glory in the heavens.  And “when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have made and set in place” – I also marvel that “You are mindful of man.”

Who am I that You concern Yourself with what concerns me?

How is it that You can know the number of hairs on my head: a number that changes every day?

And You don’t just know me by what You see on the outside, You know my innermost thoughts, my motivations, my words before I speak them.

Thank You for taking such care creating this amazing place You made for us to live. Its beauty, its vastness, and its infinite diversity blow my mind! Its magnitude is incomprehensible.

As much as I can know about this world in my lifetime, I can never begin to understand all the things You hold in balance so this planet stays together and is capable of supporting the lives You’ve placed on it.

But I can give You the credit due.

You alone are the Author, the Creator, the imagination and the power behind its creation. I can acknowledge that it is You who keeps it all together and in motion. And honor You as Almighty God.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Amen

Psalm 8:1-9

Dec 21 My strong deliverer

Father, what an incredible vision You gave John!

As he describes the scene and the action, it sounds like a great cosmic video game! But this one does not play out over and over with a reset button when the player fails at the quest.

The revelation John sees here: “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head” and “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.”

These are not anime characters, but are signs that represent actual happenings. The woman represents Israel, and the red dragon: satan. Satan was hurled down to earth and roams here now to “lead the whole world astray.”

The bad news: “woe to the earth and sea because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury…”. The good news: “his time is short.”

Because satan roams the earth in his furious state, and has duped people into following him, I need You, Father, to “keep me safe from the hands of the wicked.” It is not only the evil one, but also those under his authority who do his biding that I have seen at work.

I know sometimes I don’t make wise choices and must bear the consequences. In those times Father, I ask for Your forgiveness and Your wisdom to learn from my mistakes.

And other times, I feel attacked; caught by surprise in situations and circumstances I did not anticipate. I feel entrapped, tripped up, led into places, relationships, emotional states, and difficulties that feel like an oppressive force is orchestrating it all.

When I begin to feel discouraged and hopeless, when I find myself doubting Your goodness and Your love, I know there is some element of evil at work. Thank You that You have promised to “shield my head in the day of battle.” Your helmet of salvation protects my thoughts and reminds me of Your truth. It helps me hold what I am feeling up against the truth of Your Word.

Thank You that I can be sure of Your love for me. Thank You that I can know without a doubt, that Your purpose and plan for me are good.

Thank You that I know You will never, ever, leave me or forsake me. And thank You that the devil’s time here on earth is short. And a time will come when You will triumph over all!

In the meantime, I “will praise Your name!”

And “live [my life] in Your presence,” in safety, with You as “my strong deliverer” awaiting Your “end game.” Amen

Revelation 12:1-17; Psalm 140:1-13

Aug 23 There is none like You

“Your wisdom is profound, Your power is vast.  You move mountains …You shake the earth from its place…You speak to the sun and it does not shine, You seal off the light of the stars.  You alone stretch out the heavens and tread on the waves of the sea. “

“You are the maker of the Bear and Orion (northern constellations), the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.  You perform wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”   

Father, these words of Job’s remind me of the immenseness of Your power.  The vastness of who You are.  The enormity of Your creation.  It reminds me of how limited man is in his ability to comprehend all You are, all You have created and all You have done.

I look up at the stars, and I see tiny lights in the sky.  On a clear night, I can see a lot of them.  But ambient light from the city screens much of what is truly there.

When I was in Egypt, our bus was traveling at night on a lonely dark highway.  We stopped in the middle of the Sinai and walked a ways into the desert to look up.  You could hear the gasps as we all saw the magnificent display of stars as we had never seen them before!

We were drenched in darkness, but looking up at the sky saw thousands of tiny lights we had never been able to perceive, brilliantly sparkling from horizon to horizon.  What an amazing display of Your grandeur!

I took a group of friends to a nearby observatory.   It housed a refracting telescope with a 20 inch diameter lens.  The lens is seated in a 26 foot long tube, mounted on a 20 foot tall stand and pointed at the sky.  We each took our turn climbing up to the viewing end of the telescope that was pointed at the Orion Nebula (the star at the tip of the sword held on Orion’s belt).

What I had seen as a fuzzy point of light, exploded with clarity!  Brilliant light and clusters of stars in differing stages of birth and aging.  Bright and discernible stars now filled my view.

What had been viewed as one pinpoint in a haze was actually a nursery where new stars were being born!  Within the cloud I could see several distinct, individual stars and cloud clusters.  How amazing!  All this, and more, You stretched out with Your hand.

The very limits of human perception cannot even begin to see, much less understand Your immensity.  Your imagination and creativity are magnificent and immeasurable.  There is none like You.  Amen

Job 9:1-22

Jan 8 Creation – infinite universe!

I love Psalm 8! It makes me wonder how many times David must have gazed up at the stars in the heavens and contemplated You, the Creator of it all. As a shepherd, he would have spent many, many nights outside with the sheep; resting, guarding the flock, alone with his thoughts.

The skies where I live are never really dark. We have the light from a major city and suburbs all around. The stars are visible, but not nearly as impressive as when I saw them from the middle of the Sinai Peninsula. We stepped out of a bus on a lonely road in a part of the world where light pollution is not even a remote issue, and were completely amazed at the number and brilliance of stars visible to our naked eye.

It was one of those “awe” moments. You just stand, mouth agape, drinking in the magnitude of the millions of stars. It makes you oddly aware of how huge the universe is, stretching out before your eyes; and how small and minuscule a single person is, standing on one spot of one planet in one solar system of one galaxy in that universe.

Today, the skies above the hills around Jerusalem are also filled with light. But how dark it must have been back then. How truly bright and brilliant the night sky must have been when one lonely shepherd looked up and pondered the universe and its Maker.

God, You truly have set Your glory in the heavens.  And “when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have made and set in place” – I also marvel that “You are mindful of man.”

Who am I that You concern Yourself with what concerns me?

How is it that You can know the number of hairs on my head: a number that changes every day?

And You don’t just know me by what You see on the outside, You know my innermost thoughts, my motivations, my words before I speak them.

Thank You for taking such care creating this amazing place You made for us to live. Its beauty, its vastness, and its infinite diversity blow my mind! Its magnitude is incomprehensible.

As much as I can know about this world in my lifetime, I can never begin to understand all the things You hold in balance so this planet stays together and is capable of supporting the lives You’ve placed on it.

But I can give You the credit due.

You alone are the Author, the Creator, the imagination and the power behind its creation. I can acknowledge that it is You who keeps it all together and in motion. And honor You as Almighty God.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Amen

Psalm 8:1-9

Aug 23 There is none like You

“Your wisdom is profound, Your power is vast. You move mountains …You shake the earth from its place…You speak to the sun and it does not shine, You seal off the light of the stars. You alone stretch out the heavens and tread on the waves of the sea. “

“You are the maker of the Bear and Orion (northern constellations), the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. You perform wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”  

photo NASA website M42 Wisps of the Orion Nebula(c) Jon Christensen

Father, these words of Job’s remind me of the immenseness of Your power. The vastness of who You are. The enormity of Your creation. It reminds me of how limited man is in his ability to comprehend all You are, all You have created and all You have done.

I look up at the stars, and I see tiny lights in the sky. On a clear night, I can see a lot of them. But ambient light from the city screens much of what is truly there.

When I was in Egypt, our bus was traveling at night on a lonely dark highway. We stopped in the middle of the Sinai and walked a ways into the desert to look up. You could hear the gasps as we all saw the magnificent display of stars as we had never seen them before!

We were drenched in darkness, but looking up at the sky saw thousands of tiny lights we had never been able to perceive, brilliantly sparkling from horizon to horizon. What an amazing display of Your grandeur!

I took a group of friends to a nearby observatory.   It housed a refracting telescope with a 20 inch diameter lens. The lens is seated in a 26 foot long tube, mounted on a 20 foot tall stand and pointed at the sky. We each took our turn climbing up to the viewing end of the telescope that was pointed at the Orion Nebula (the star at the tip of the sword held on Orion’s belt).

What I had seen with my eye to be a fuzzy point of light, exploded with clarity!  Brilliant light and clusters of stars in differing stages of birth and aging. Bright and discernible stars now filled my view.

What I had seen as one pinpoint in a haze was actually a nursery where new stars were being born! Within the cloud I could see several distinct, individual stars and cloud clusters. How amazing! All this, and more, You stretched out with Your hand.

The very limits of human perception cannot even begin to see, much less understand Your immensity. Your imagination and creativity are magnificent and immeasurable. There is none like You. Amen

Job 9:1-22

Jan 8 Creation – infinite universe!

I love Psalm 8! It makes me wonder how many times David must have gazed up at the stars in the heavens and contemplated You, the Creator of it all. As a shepherd, he would have spent many, many nights outside with the sheep; resting, guarding the flock, alone with his thoughts.

The skies where I live are never really dark. We have the light from a major city and suburbs all around. The stars are visible, but not nearly as impressive as when I saw them from the middle of the Sinai Peninsula. We stepped out of a bus on a lonely road in a part of the world where light pollution is not even a remote issue, and were completely amazed at the number and brilliance of stars visible to our naked eye.

It was one of those ‘awe’ moments. You just stand, mouth agape, drinking in the magnitude of the millions of stars. It makes you oddly aware of how huge the universe is, stretching out before your eyes; and how small and miniscule a single person is, standing on one spot of one planet in one solar system of one galaxy in that universe.

Today, the skies above the hills around Jerusalem are also filled with light. But how dark it must have been back then. How truly bright and brilliant the night sky must have been when one lonely shepherd looked up and pondered the universe and its Maker.

God, You truly have set Your glory in the heavens. And “when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have made and set in place” – I also marvel that “You are mindful of man”. Who am I that You concern Yourself with what concerns me? How is it that You can know the number of hairs on my head: a number that changes every day? And You don’t just know me by what You see on the outside, You know my innermost thoughts, my motivations, my words before I speak them.

Thank You for taking such care creating earth: this amazing place You made for us to live. Its beauty, its vastness, and its infinite diversity blow my mind! Its magnitude is incomprehensible. As much as I can know about this world in my lifetime, I can never begin to understand all the things You hold in balance so this planet stays together and is capable of supporting the lives You’ve placed on it.

But I can give You the credit due You alone as the Author, the Creator, the imagination and the power behind its creation. I can acknowledge that it is You who keeps it all together and in motion. And honor You as Almighty God. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Amen

Psalm 8:1-9

Jan 8 Creation – infinite universe!

I love Psalm 8! It makes me wonder how many times David must have gazed up at the stars in the heavens and contemplated You, the Creator of it all. As a shepherd, he would have spent many, many nights outside with the sheep; resting, guarding the flock, alone with his thoughts.

The skies where I live are never really dark. We have the light from a major city and suburbs all around. The stars are visible, but not nearly as impressive as when I saw them from the middle of the Sinai Peninsula. We stepped out of a bus on a lonely road in a part of the world where light pollution is not even a remote issue, and were completely amazed at the number and brilliance of stars visible to our naked eye.

It was one of those ‘awe’ moments. You just stand, mouth agape, drinking in the magnitude of the millions of stars. It makes you oddly aware of how huge the universe is, stretching out before your eyes; and how small and minuscule a single person is, standing on one spot of one planet in one solar system of one galaxy in that universe.

Today, the skies above the hills around Jerusalem are also filled with light. But how dark it must have been back then. How truly bright and brilliant the night sky must have been when one lonely shepherd looked up and pondered the universe and its Maker.

God, You truly have set Your glory in the heavens. And “when I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have made and set in place” – I also marvel that “You are mindful of man”. Who am I that You concern Yourself with what concerns me? How is it that You can know the number of hairs on my head: a number that changes every day? And You don’t just know me by what You see on the outside, You know my innermost thoughts, my motivations, my words before I speak them.

Thank You for taking such care creating earth: this amazing place You made for us to live. Its beauty, its vastness, and its infinite diversity blow my mind! Its magnitude is incomprehensible. As much as I can know about this world in my lifetime, I can never begin to understand all the things You hold in balance so this planet stays together and is capable of supporting the lives You’ve placed on it.

But I can give You the credit due You alone as the Author, the Creator, the imagination and the power behind its creation. I can acknowledge that it is You who keeps it all together and in motion. And honor You as Almighty God. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” Amen

Psalm 8:1-9