Heavens

Heavens – Part 1

Have you ever looked up into the sky at night and seen the stars? If you live in the city it’s quite hard, so you need to get out to a park or somewhere where there isn’t much ‘light pollution’. One time, we went down to The Lizard in Cornwall (it’s a place, not a reptile with scales and 4 legs…) and looked up and watched shooting stars! It was quite amazing to see stars woosh across the sky! The latest estimate is that there are over 200 billion galaxies – earth and all the planets we see are in just one of those galaxies!

Psalm 19.1-6 – 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. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

The image below is one I created in Photoshop, but it’s a replica of what I saw at night when in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado in April 2012. Looking up to the skies, I suddenly saw a fiery asteroid/meteorite blaze across the skies. Then a bit later I saw another one! Two huge balls of fire, the second one especially had a huge trail of debris/smoke/heat behind it. Both times, they were much ‘larger’ than and flew ‘in front of’ the ‘Plough’ formation of stars (because the balls of fire were much closer to the earth). I was speechless – thanking and praising God! I then read the verse below…

Ezekiel 4.1 (Message) – I looked: I saw an immense dust storm come from the north, an immense cloud with lightning flashing from it, a huge ball of fire glowing like bronze. 

The heavens literally declare the glory of God. When we look up and see the enormity of the universe we live in and the small-ness of planet earth, it is really humbling. The Bible tells us the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands. People who don’t believe in God may have all kinds of science behind what they believe, but the truth is that God is behind that science! The Bible tells us that every day the heavens speak about God and it’s visible across the whole earth. It doesn’t matter what our language or race or culture is – the heavens speak God’s language. This is a language of something way beyond us, something quite awesome, unspeakable, brilliant, creative, fiery, risky, adventurous, dangerous and wondrous. When people say that God doesn’t speak, tell them to look up!

The voice of the heavens cries out across all cultures with its own declaration of the glory of God. God set the stars in place, he mapped out the heavens and the galaxies. Yet even though there are 200 billion galaxies at least, God is bigger and beyond them! When we read Ezekiel 1.4 and see a description of God in his glory in heaven, we see aspects of him reflected in the heavens – like the glowing ball of fire, the stars that shine, the sun that blazes and provides, burning with love and fire. This is our God.

A Prayer: Lord, you created the heavens and they declare your glory day after day. Lord, you are a consuming fire, yet your eyes blaze with love for the people you made, not wanting that anyone should be destroyed but that everyone should be saved. Lord when we see the heavens and what you’ve made, we are overwhelmed and inspired in awe of you. Lord, help us put you in your right place and help us reflect your glory. Amen.