Word on the Web

15 Jul 2009: Great big God?

When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him. Psalm 8: 3,4

Although Jesus was a carpenter with muscled arms, any regular at the gym could probably have beaten him at arm wrestling. A man told me recently that Jesus is his best friend. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if we’re not careful we can fall into the trap of thinking of Jesus only in terms of being a mate who would probably pip us at the post in most things.

When God took Abraham outside to count the stars it was not an arithmetic test. To gaze into a sky studded with stars from horizon to horizon is an awe-inspiring experience. Countless galaxies in swirls of light. And what we can see is a minute percentage of the whole. The vastness of the created universe dwarfs even the grandest of human estimates. And yet, God ‘marked off the heavens with the breadth of his hand.’ “He’s got the whole world in his hands” is surely a classic British understatement.

Trouble is most town and city dwellers never get a good view of the sky. Town planners are so committed to giving us a good view of the ground that looking up at night leaves us dazzled by neon! So don’t wait for the next power cut to gasp star-struck at the amazing display of God’s handiwork. It’s worth the walk, or the time it takes to drive, to regain your perspective and re-engage with the God of the universe.

“Hands that flung stars into space….”

 

Tony Phelps Jones

Causeway Prospects