“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40:16)
I dearly love this picture of God that Isaiah paints. Isaiah says we learn something important about God when we look up. “Who created all these?” You’d think God would have been satisfied with a thousand stars/planets/asteroids/moons/galaxies. But the Almighty just kept creating and creating and creating. Why? Maybe because it was fun to make ’em, collect ’em, arrange ’em and put them on display. In our modern understanding, the stars are also antiques: the light that hits our eye left the star millions of years ago. And most of the little specks in our sky are actually galaxies composed of blobs of million of stars. I just find it beautiful and charming beyond words that God “calls forth each of them by name,” and “not one of them is missing.” God only has about seven or eight billion favorites here on the surface of the earth — a much smaller collection compared to what’s on display in the heavens. Every person I meet and see today is known by God and God knows right where everybody is. Why did God make so many people? Maybe because it was fun and so God could multiply the amount of love in the universe, one person at a time — including you.
Lord thank you for the way my eyes are connected to my heart. When I see your stars, with all their massive order and exquisite beauty, I know that you made me and love me, too. I couldn’t be anonymous or missing from you if I wanted to. I don’t want to. I want to receive your just-for-me attention and love today. Amen.
