"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?" Psa. 8:3,43When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalm 8:3‑4). Why should the God who created all that vast celestial system take note of poor mortal man, a comparatively infinitesimal speck?
God left to man a standing witness to the power and wisdom of his Creator: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork." Psa. 19:11<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork. (Psalm 19:1). Man had corrupted the earth, but the heavens still speak of the glory of their Creator, and give witness to Him day and night in unmistakable language.
Without audible words, the testimony of the heavens spoke a universal language which none could mistake. So forceful was it, that even though mankind had given up God for vain idols, they were rendered inexcusable.
In man's quest for knowledge of the stellar universe, he has built larger and better telescopes. This has greatly increased his capacity to reach out into the hitherto unknown and make pictures and observations with astonishing accuracy.
Oh, that all would scan the heavens, and as they do, think not only of the vastness of the universe, but of the majesty, wisdom and power of Him who created, and who sustains all things! Let us obey this call and lift up our eyes and see not only the creation, but the Creator who is revealed in His creation.
On a dark, clear night, away from the lights of the big cities, many stars are to be seen, but only about 5000 stars are visible to the naked eye from any one spot on earth; the luminous band across the sky which we call the Milky Way, is really the light from millions of stars which can only be seen through a telescope. The earth is a part of the Milky Way which is a thin, lens-shaped galaxy containing an aggregation of about 200,000,000 stars. Our sun is only a small one of these.
The whole system rotates in space, with each star being at a great distance from its nearest neighbor, so that the distance is measured in light years, that is, the distance light travels in one year at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. This amounts to the staggering total of 5,870,000,000,000 miles per year.
To get some idea of the immensity of the one galaxy, the Milky Way, it should be pointed out that it is about 100,000 of these light years in diameter and 10,000 light years in thickness.
More powerful telescopes are able to reach out and photograph other galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The 200-inch Mt. Palomar telescope has a range of 1,000,000,000 light years, within which are an estimated 800,000,000 galaxies. So great is the actual number of stars which man can now see that it dwarfs imagination.
At every turn we can exclaim with the Psalmist David, in Psa. 8 verses 3 and 4: "When I consider Thy heavens... what is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" Strange that man should feel himself to be so great that he can reason against his Creator! or fail to accept the Bible as His revelation—that Book which has never been opposed to any scientific fact, but has stood out as an unfailing beacon to those who might be shipwrecked on the rocks of human speculation.
How little thanks, or even credit, the Creator receives from His tiny creature. But God will be God in spite of all, and He will be glorified in both the salvation of the believing sinner who trusts in the precious blood of Christ, and in the damnation of those who despise and those who neglect "so great salvation."
The earth bears this distinction, that here it was that God was pleased to reveal Himself in the Person of His Son. The physical wonders of creation may astonish us, but the glory of God revealed in Jesus the Son on earth is beyond words to express. Truly this earth is the center of all God's ways, and the place where His love, His grace, His goodness, His holiness and truth are also displayed. Everything meets in the Son, and fully at the cross.
Well may we praise Him for this display of His heart. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." 1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9).
Thou the light that showed our sin,
Showed how guilty we had been:
Thine the love that us to save,
Thine own Son for sinners gave.