Thought for Today
Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being . . . 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
“Calvin often referred to the heavens and the earth, the works of God, as a theater in which the creator’s glory can be seen (1.5.8; 1.6.2; 2.6.2). This most beautiful theater enables faith to see that ‘wherever we cast our eyes, all things they meet are the works of God’ (1.14.20)” (Coffee with Calvin, pg. 4)
I offered that same quote from Calvin last week as I thought about the “Why?” of creation. Yesterday, during Coffee Hour, I was once again reminded of Calvin’s words as one of our deacons showed some of us a picture he took through his telescope of a far distant galaxy. He told us that the galaxy was tens of thousands of light-years away. “A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly 9460730472580.8 km, which is approximately 9.46 trillion kilometres or 5.88 trillion miles. As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a light-year is the distance that light travels in vacuum in one Julian year (365.25 days). Despite its inclusion of the word ‘year’, the term is not a unit of time.” (en.wikipedia.org)
I’m not very good with the metric system; however, I’m certain that a trillion of anything, metric or not, is an inconceivable amount of that thing. The health app on my smartphone keeps track of how many steps I take each day. It will tell me how many miles I walk each day. I’m not exactly sure how many ‘steps’ constitute a mile, but as near as I can determine, my app is using a conversion of about 2800 steps/mile. I don’t even want to ask my computer to convert 5.88 trillion miles into steps!
When we attempt to comprehend the magnitude of God’s Creation, we are faced with an almost insurmountable problem. I cannot capture the problem any better than did the psalmist in Psalm 8. What are we that our Creator God even notices us, much less that God would send God’s Son to tend to our care?
We were created to be God’s gardeners. We exist on one small planet located in a small, not very notable part of an immense universe. We exist to tend God’s garden. Yet, we exist because God created us and breathed the breath of life into us.
As I looked at that picture of that far away galaxy yesterday, as we talked about how long it took for that starlight to reach that telescope I was once again overwhelmed by the awesome magnitude of our Creator God.
Yesterday, in my sermon I addressed Matthew 10:29-31, “29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Counting the hairs on my head doesn’t take God nearly as long as it used to. But, that’s not the point Jesus was making.
It is easy to become overwhelmed by astronomical distances. It is easy to become lost in the crowd when we consider how many of God’s gardeners currently occupy our planet. We can become sad, depressed and defeated by the plethora of problems and ‘issues’ that we confront. Modern technology, crowded cities, pollution and all the other plagues (literal and metaphorical) engulfing us can leave us exhausted and afraid.
When all of that happens, when you (and I) have ‘one of those days,’ instead of singing “These are a few of my favorite things,” maybe we should remember Jesus’ words and the psalmist’s words, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” “do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” God does care. We are valued by God. God sent the Christ for our salvation.
Stay safe, be comforted by God, trust God,
Pastor Ray