The Stars

What experience causes you to stand in awe of God?

For me, it is looking from high above a valley well after the sun has set. The stars fill the sky so abundantly more than when I look up from my backyard. Thousands, millions, billions of stars...huge, global-sized orbs of flame and heat...pinpoints of power that is beyond even the mid-sized star we call The Sun. If our understanding is accurate regarding the speed of light, the stars are millions of millions of miles away from us!

We think that the nearest star to us, aside from our sun, Proxima Centauri, just over 4 light years away. It would take four years, traveling at the speed of light, to reach this nearest star! The farthest recorded star is approximately 25 billion light years away! (http://www.astronomyexpert.co.uk/howfarawayarethestars.html)

And the number of stars is uncountable! One best guess is that there may be as many as 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in our universe. (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM75BS1VED_index_0.html)

And God created this star-studded, immense universe. All that there is, God, through Jesus, created, and sustains:

He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17 (ESV)

FIRSTBORN: prototokos (first-born); from protos (foremost) and tikto (produced from seed)

IN HIM: en au (in a fixed position, or by the instrumentality of, self)

HOLD TOGETHER: synistao (to set together, to introduce, to exhibit, to stand near, to consitute); from syn (with or closely together) and histemi (to stand)

Paul boldly proclaims Jesus Christ to be The Firstborn of creation, The One Who existed before all else, The One Who created all things, and The One Who sets all things together in Himself.

All things exist only because of the continued existence, and active power, of Jesus Christ, The God-man.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:1-3 (ESV)

What experience causes me to stand in awe of God?

Looking at the stars from high above a valley set with lights of a city. Each tiny light in the valley represents a family, or even just a single person, living, driving, buying, selling, eating, loving, arguing, fighting, praying, crying, hurting, singing, laughing, and hundreds of other normal human acts, good and bad.

This small valley of people is only one of thousands, millions more across our earth.

And God knows each one, intimately and truly. His mercy aches with compassion for their hurt. His justice burns with subdued heat for their wickedness.

And His grace covers all.

The stars at night brings awe of God to my heart.

Image courtesy of Michael Wifall, http://x.xoque.com:4242/, Creative Commons license.