“The Heavens Declare”

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1)

Ever since I was a young boy I have enjoyed looking up to the “heavens”. I remember when my father bought a telescope so that we could peer into space. We could see a close-up of the moon, with its craters and shadows; Saturn, with its amazing rings; the big planet Jupiter. with its big red “spot”; and the planet Mars, with its red surface.

As a teenager I watched with great fascination as the Apollo astronauts landed on the moon

Still today outer space fascinates me. Pictures and news items of man-made spacecraft that are hurdling through space always pique my interest, showing the amazing complexity of the Universe.

Our text today declares the fact that God made all of this to show His glory and handiwork. He made it all in an instant – He spoke it into existence (Genesis 1:14-18). He set these things into the sky for the benefit of man – “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” And, what is noteworthy, He made the stars – which make up the majority of celestial items – as a sort of after-thought: “the stars also”.

As we set our vision for this New Year, the first sight that we must have is of God and His glory. He made the world; He made you and me. The next time you go outside and look up into the vastness of outer space, keep in mind that the God Who made it all is interested in you as an individual. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16). You are much more important to God than all that vast universe!