Read:
‘When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers’ (Psalm 8:3)
Think:
Three weeks ago, I reflected on the extraordinary effect of a solar eclipse on the natural world. For a few moments, the familiar became strange: light faded, the air changed, and creation seemed to pause. Such moments remind us how little of the wonder around us we normally notice.
Years ago, when my father lived in Aldeburgh, he often told me that, whenever a storm was brewing, he would take his newspaper and drive down to the sea wall at the end of the town, towards the Martello Tower. He would position the car so that he could sit in the warm and dry and watch the remarkable meeting of sea and sky as the storm raged. I also remember that Dad used to love the dark nights of winter when he could look out and then draw the curtains to shut our the dark and enjoy being in the warm.
As a child, I lived in a very remote rural area with no streetlights. The deep darkness of the night sky frightened me at first. As I grew older, however, I began to understand that it is only in true darkness that the stars can be seen most clearly. I also came to recognise that life continues all around us, even when we cannot see it: creatures stir, plants breathe, and the world carries on beyond the reach of our sight.
The psalmist looks up and sees the heavens as “the work of your fingers”. It is an image of intimacy as well as immensity. God’s handiwork is present in the vastness of the sky, in the power of a storm, and in the hidden life of the darkness. Creation is beyond our comprehension, not because it is empty, but because it holds far more complexity, beauty and life than our limited capacity can absorb.
So, next time the sky looks menacing, before you rush to close the windows or move out of harm’s way, pause for a moment and look. Notice the light, the clouds and the movement of the world around you. Then reflect, with wonder, on everything that God has made.
Pray:
God of the hidden enormity of the heavens and the detail of every moment and everything, as we look at the heavens, we see not only immensity but also detail. We praise you, the God who is within it all and who breathed it all into being. We thank you that you know and notice us. Amen.