Week Three - Whoosh!

Whoosh! And just like that, Christmas and New Year are behind us, and we forge on into the unwritten days of 2022. This past couple of years seems like such a blur, and with no idea of what is ahead, sometimes we are tempted to look forward with dread. The other day, someone posted a short video about the size of the universe and the Hubble telescope's search to find what is out there in the vast expanse of space. I don't usually stop to watch these things, but I did watch this one because - little trivia bit - Edwin Hubble was from Marshfield, Missouri, my hometown!

Anyway, as the video proceeded to show the size of our earth by comparison to the size of stars ten times the size of our sun, and the little black spot found by the telescope that, after four months of searching, held 10,000 more solar systems, the size of one individual was reduced to total insignificance. Even our earth becomes just a fleck of dust compared to the size of the cosmos.

It is enough to bring things into perspective, isn't it? 

Then Scripture came flooding to the front of my thoughts. "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalm 8:3, 4). We are less than an insignificant fleck of dust, and yet, God loved us and sent His Son for our redemption. 

I know the scientists and astronomers are searching for more life in the great out there, and I have no idea if they will find it. But there is life here. Life ordained and created by a God of love with a vested interest in what happens on this tiny spinning sphere.

As I thought about these things, I recognized how we tend to think our world is so very important. We take all so seriously and come to believe we are necessary or like demi-gods, but we are nothing compared to our God. We are, as David said, but worms. (Psalm 22:6)

By Him, by Christ, all things consist - not by us (Colossians 1:17). We can't even count the hairs on our heads or increase our natural height, yet with Him, nothing is impossible. What a magnificent God we serve who knows our every movement, thought, and molecule while He waters every moment and thinks of us more times than the sands of the sea. We can't even calculate that! And yet we pass our days thinking only of ourselves, our world, and our importance. 

It is a humbling thought, isn't it? That the God of this vast universe would choose to know you personally. He would love you with His everlasting love and take all your cares if you cast them to Him. If you meditate on this yourself, I'm sure you will find a blessing. I came to one more thought.

If this great, expansive God cares so much about me, what does He want from me? Micah 6:8 came to mind. "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  

Walk humbly. We are just a speck of dust. Love mercy. God's mercy is shown toward us, and our mercy should be directed toward others on this minor crumbling planet. Do justly. Do what is right, knowing that our time is like a vapor, and whoosh, we are gone.