"The Universe Declares the Glory of God"
May 4, 2019
When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?
~ Psalm 8:3-4 (ESV)
Start driving from Los Angels in a southeasterly direction, and in about three hours you come to Mt. Palomar. Atop its mile-high peak is the giant Hale telescope. Through this 200-inch dish, peering into the sky, astronomers look out upon the vast reaches of outer space. On sensitive photographic film, they have recorded the light of millions of stars.
Someone has estimated that there are ten octillion stars out there in space. (Ten octillion is the number ten followed by 27 zeros.) The English physicist, astronomer, and mathematician Sir James Jeans once commented that there are as many stars in space as there are grains of sand in all the beaches on earth.
The truth is not as strange as the fiction proclaimed today that God is merely a product of human imagination and that the universe, with its beautiful, lucid order, is the result of millions of fortuitous accidents, which came about by pure chance. In plain, straightforward terms, the psalmist set forth the truth of the matter: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork." (Psalm 19:1).
Look about you and what do you see? There's a whole world of people who think it is beneath them, somehow an insult to their intelligence, to talk about God. They cringe at acknowledging His existence, at deferring to His claim that He made all people, at the idea of calling on Him. To worship Him with the praise and thanksgiving He deserves is almost more than they can bear.
Look about you and see the glory of God. Lift up your eyes and see. The great God, who holds the whole universe in the palm of His hand, cares about you. Look at Jesus Christ, and you begin to understand what all this really means. By His own design, and in fulfillment of His own purpose, the living God sent His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, to be a real man among us.
Jesus Christ died for us; He lives for us, and He is Lord of all. In Him we can know God the Father. He was raised from the dead by the glory of His Father and given a Name above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth (see Philippians 2:10). God invites you to be His son or daughter by faith in Jesus.
The Son of God gave Himself for you. Give yourself to Him, right now, in the confidence of a trusting and sincere faith.
THE PRAYER: Lord God, for the universe, for our lives, and most of all, for Your Son, we praise You. Amen.
From "The Universe Declares the Glory of God," a sermon excerpt from Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour. Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
The universe, with its beautiful, lucid order, is the result of millions of fortuitous accidents, which came about by pure chance.
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