Pastor's Perspective - I See Someone Else

When you look at the stars, what do you see?

Yesterday my family and I returned from another short camping jaunt up to Collins Lake. We were joined by two other families from the church for what turned out to be three days of great relaxing enjoyment. As I shared in a recent blog post, I’m the very last person I ever thought would be a camping enthusiast; but I think I’m getting the bug! We enjoyed nature, ate wonderful meals, fished, swam and made beautiful memories with our children and each other.

A few nights ago, our last night, we all did something that might have been the unanticipated highlight of the trip for me personally. After dinner and the mandatory smores fest, we all sat by the waning campfire in our camp chairs and simply looked at the star-filled sky above us. The view of the heavens far from the city lights blew our minds! We were able to identify the International Space Station lumbering by at a mere 17,000 mph, numerous satellites, shooting stars, and too many constellations to count. Our conversation in the darkness was peppered in simple awe at the expanse and the magnificence of it all.

I just read a study recently published online in the journal ‘Nature’. It suggests there are a mind-blowing 300 sextillion stars out there, three times as many as scientists previously calculated. How many is that you might ask? Its 3 followed by 23 zeros, or 3 trillion times 100 billion!

As we sat together in the darkness, verses from Scripture flooded my mind with commentary –

‘He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limits.’ (Ps. 147:4-5)

‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.’ (Ps. 19:1-2)

Then I thought of Romans 1:20 – ‘For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities  - his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse’.

I was vividly reminded that what I was observing was not the ultimate object of awe and beauty; that they were merely the celestial signs pointing to their Creator – that He is the ultimate object of awe and beauty. The creation is simply the infomercial for the Creator! That God’s existence and overwhelming attributes are clearly seen every day and every night, generation to generation, announcing that He is, He does, and He can.

Who can debate the words of King David? ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”’ (Ps. 14:1)

And as I folded-up my camp chair to head to my camper to go to bed, I began humming the chorus of a song from the band Switchfoot appropriately titled ‘Stars’ – ‘When I look at the stars, I see someone else.’

When you look at the stars, what do you see?