Wednesday, May 18, 2022
"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge” Psalm 19:1-2.
My wife’s good friend recently gave me a telescope. Living near the edge of the desert where city light pollution is minimal, I am blessed with a beautiful night sky panorama. My telescope gift is a gateway to magnificent nighttime vistas.
It doesn’t take a hobby telescope, the Hubble or Webb space telescope, to tell us what the Psalmist already knew. Viewed by the naked human eye, the nighttime testimony of the heavens is evident. Perhaps the only real limitation is in the fact that many people (myself included) allow busyness to hinder us from going outside, lying back, and looking up. Honestly, when was the last time you did so?
I’m old enough to remember the famous 1968 translunar space mission by the Apollo 8 crew, and their impactful reading of Genesis 1 while in lunar orbit. The earth rise photo snapped from their command module has forever redefined our perspective of life on planet earth. It offers a unique testimony to God's glory.
The heavens ARE declaring the glory of God and what an amazing message it is. It's considered that there are over 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, and our galaxy is only one of billions in the universe. It is estimated that we are traveling 900 miles per hour on our journey around the Sun. It takes several minutes for sunlight to reach us traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). As we look up at the stars at night, that starlight has traveled considerable distances for many years to reach our eyes at the exact moment we gaze. For example, if we were able to view Alpha Centauri, the closest star to us, that light began its journey over 4 years ago in that the star is 4.4 light years away.
If the universe is this large, expansive, and delicately balanced, imagine the God who created it all! It gives us a fresh perspective as to our estimation of an infinite Creator. But also consider this: the One who created billions and billions of stars and galaxies and placed them at impossible distances from one another knew you before you were born and even knows the very number of the hairs on your head. Nothing is too large or small for our Father. Our response is aptly framed by the Psalmist:
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
Pastor Steve
"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge” Psalm 19:1-2.
My wife’s good friend recently gave me a telescope. Living near the edge of the desert where city light pollution is minimal, I am blessed with a beautiful night sky panorama. My telescope gift is a gateway to magnificent nighttime vistas.
It doesn’t take a hobby telescope, the Hubble or Webb space telescope, to tell us what the Psalmist already knew. Viewed by the naked human eye, the nighttime testimony of the heavens is evident. Perhaps the only real limitation is in the fact that many people (myself included) allow busyness to hinder us from going outside, lying back, and looking up. Honestly, when was the last time you did so?
I’m old enough to remember the famous 1968 translunar space mission by the Apollo 8 crew, and their impactful reading of Genesis 1 while in lunar orbit. The earth rise photo snapped from their command module has forever redefined our perspective of life on planet earth. It offers a unique testimony to God's glory.
The heavens ARE declaring the glory of God and what an amazing message it is. It's considered that there are over 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, and our galaxy is only one of billions in the universe. It is estimated that we are traveling 900 miles per hour on our journey around the Sun. It takes several minutes for sunlight to reach us traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). As we look up at the stars at night, that starlight has traveled considerable distances for many years to reach our eyes at the exact moment we gaze. For example, if we were able to view Alpha Centauri, the closest star to us, that light began its journey over 4 years ago in that the star is 4.4 light years away.
If the universe is this large, expansive, and delicately balanced, imagine the God who created it all! It gives us a fresh perspective as to our estimation of an infinite Creator. But also consider this: the One who created billions and billions of stars and galaxies and placed them at impossible distances from one another knew you before you were born and even knows the very number of the hairs on your head. Nothing is too large or small for our Father. Our response is aptly framed by the Psalmist:
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
Pastor Steve