looking up from this wet pebble

 

The heavens are the Lord's heavens,

but the earth he has given to the children of man.

Psalm 115:16

The poetry of this psalm recognizes God's sovereign rule over the universe. The enormous expanse of interstellar space... the stars and galaxies all are the kingdom and handiwork of our God. In this beautiful, overwhelming universe, God reigns supreme. And on a blue, watery, rocky planet orbiting an average star, in one arm of a very average galaxy, mankind has been granted by the King a lowly rock to steward and manage for the glory of the greater Creator.

We live on what in comparison to the universe is this microscopic pebble of a planet. It is a mere speck in the universe that God controls. And at night we look to the heavens and marvel at what we can see and learn there. It is all God's handiwork and His domain.

I love astronomy. I enjoy digging out my telescope on clear winter nights and stargazing. I get a thrill at looking at Saturn's rings, Mars' red glow, and Jupiter's bright light through my small window into the universe that sits on a tripod and lets me gaze a little closer. But I also realize my limits when I do that. I am but an earth imprisoned man, made of its dust and destined to return to that dust again in death. Only in eternal life will I truly know the Creator of those heavens and the kingdom He rules. And the love of Jesus Who died so that I may know Him and His power shines brighter than all the stars of all the galaxies of all the universe put together!