Challenge

In the TFTD on 27 November 2024, one question asked was, “Which verses in scripture do you find mind-blowing?” I found that to be a very interesting challenge. The first phrase to come to mind was from Genesis chapter 1 verse 16: “He also made the stars.”

During the Great Storm of 1987, we were without power for about three days, and it was suggested that I go outside at night to look up at the sky. Without street lights and illumination from buildings, it was possible to see the many stars that are too often obscured from sight.  Graham Kendrick’s hymn, From Heaven You Came, beautifully captures what might have been the divine act of creation with the words, “Hands that flung stars into space.”

That phrase, “He also made the stars” comes on the third day immediately after the creation of the “two great lights” one for the day and the other for the night. The psalmist states, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?Psalm 8

We might well marvel with the psalmist and this reminds me of another mind-blowing comment. One translation of Hebrews 1 verse 3 states, “When He had, by Himself, purged our sins”. This short statement, in an amazing way, sums up the whole of the gospel story. And soon we will be celebrating the start of that earthly journey over the Christmas period.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for those human senses that enable us to appreciate your wonderful creation. May they arouse within us a spirit of praise and worship. AMEN