Today's Meditation
Read Psalm 147:1-11
1Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
2The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
4He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
5Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
6The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground.
7Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre.
8He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills.
9He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry.
10His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
11but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
The psalmist reminds us of the wonderful things God does;
The Lord builds up Jerusalem.
God gathers the outcasts of Israel.
The Holy One heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
The Lord of Creation determines the number of the stars and gives them their names.
He is abundant in power and His understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord of All lifts up the downtrodden.
God prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow, and gives animals their food.
I could write entire messages about each of these separately, but today what strikes me is the line about God determining the number of stars and gives them their names. The ancients looked up into heaven and saw a remarkable sky; a vast unknowable ocean of deep darkness dotted with brilliant light. Abraham was given a promise that his descendants would outnumber those stars.
To the modern scientist and even to the amateur astronomer, that vast unknowable space has become much more knowable and yet, even more remarkable. We have named the planets in our solar system, we've even photographed them. We've visited the surface of the moon and will probably, one day, do the same on some of the other planets. Through modern telescopes and super computers we've tracked the birth of new stars and the death of old ones. To fathom the mind of God who set the universe in place is impossible.
If you've ever gone to a planetarium and watched a film about the universe, you know what I'm talking about; the sheer amazement of our existence on this tiny dot in the middle of that spacial sea is awesome and fearsome and wonderful. And still, our tiny dot of a world and our even smaller dot of existence in each and every human being, in each blade of grass, God knows of it, cares for it, gives it food and causes it to grow. We are less than a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things.
In spite of our infinitesimal smallness, God cares for you (and knows your name - even knows the number of hairs on your head) and loves you (in all of your greatness and all of your sin).
God gathers us, protects us, and lifts us up.
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