Spiritual Voice And Times 1
Topic: Creation--The Stars
Lesson PDF link: Spiritual Voice and Times
This is a lesson about creation's beauty. The Crab Nebula was formed by a star explosion that was seen on Earth in 1054 AD. It's 6500 light-years away and is a composite of 5 different telescopes.
Look at this News Clip.
God is the creator of all things and this proves that He is still creating. This is a very beautiful picture and demonstration of God's handy work.
The Bible talks about this in Genesis 1: 14-19 (The Fourth Day Of Creation):
Gen 1:14 Then God said, "Let there be lights across the sky to distinguish day from night, to act as signs for seasons, days, and years,
Gen 1:15 to serve as lights in the sky, and to shine on the earth!" And that is what happened:
Gen 1:16 God fashioned two great lights the larger light to shine during the day and the smaller light to shine during the night as well as the stars.
Gen 1:17 God placed them in the sky to shine on the earth,
Gen 1:18 to shine both day and night, and to distinguish light from darkness. And God saw how good it was.
Gen 1:19 The twilight and the dawn were the fourth day.
The Fourth day of creation is when the stars were born. God made sure His work would be beautiful.
This is talked about more later in the scriptures. For example in Psalm 8: 3-9.
Psa 8:1 To the Director: On a stringed instrument. A Davidic Psalm.
LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! You set your glory above the heavens!
Psa 8:2 Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have established strength on account of your adversaries, in order to silence the enemy and vengeful foe.
Psa 8:3 When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you established
Psa 8:4 what is man that you take notice of him, or the son of man that you pay attention to him?
Psa 8:5 You made him a little less than divine, but you crowned him with glory and honor.
Psa 8:6 You gave him dominion over the work of your hands, you put all things under his feet:
Psa 8:7 Sheep and cattle all of them, wild creatures of the field,
Psa 8:8 birds in the sky, fish in the sea whatever moves through the currents of the oceans.
Psa 8:9 LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth!
So, creation was made for a testimony to God's glory. Even God's enemies will be forced to notice God's work and demonstration of strength even if they don't like the One True God.
This is further talked about in Psalm 136
Psa 136:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his gracious love is everlasting.
Psa 136:2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his gracious love is everlasting.
Psa 136:3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:4 To the one who alone does great and wondrous things, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:5 to the one who by wisdom made the heavens, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:6 to the one who spread out the earth over the waters, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:7 to the one who made the great lights, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:8 the sun to illumine the day, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:9 and the moon and stars to illumine the night, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:10 to the one who struck the firstborn of Egypt, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:11 and brought Israel out from among them, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:12 with a strong hand and an active arm, for his gracious love is everlasting.
Psa 136:13 To the one who split the Reed Sea in two for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:14 and made Israel pass through the middle of it, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:15 and cast Pharaoh and his armies into the Reed Sea, for his gracious love is everlasting.
Psa 136:16 To the one who led his people into the wilderness, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:17 to the one who struck down great kings, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:18 and killed famous kings, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:19 including Sihon king of the Amorites, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:20 and Og king of Bashan, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:21 and gave their land as an inheritance, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:22 to Israel his servant as a possession, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:23 He it is who remembered us in our lowly circumstances, for his gracious love is everlasting
Psa 136:24 and rescued us from our enemies, for his gracious love is everlasting.
Psa 136:25 He gives food to all creatures, for his gracious love is everlasting.
Psa 136:26 Give thanks to the God of Heaven, for his gracious love is everlasting.
Creation is a testament to God's everlasting love, so as to keep things the way He designed it--always living and always fresh and of course, God is never boring. This section of the Bible is very poetic about who God is and talks about other things. When God wants to get things done, He gets things going sometimes in a hurry by our clock and sometimes not; God's timing regardless is perfect. So, when it is time for a beautiful space picture like this is to be made for us, God gives us knowledge to get it. When God creates in general, it happens and is beautiful. When God has an enemy that has to be eliminated, death can happen in an instant. When God gives, He gives abundantly. These scriptures are just a few examples of God's might and we need to be utterly in awe. Whatever God ordains to happen, He does it in perfect love. When there are things that don't happen according to God's plans (because of us), He still makes a lot of good come out of it--this includes even harsh judgments or shielding the righteous or other help.
This is how closely God keeps track of the stars in the sky. This example is found in Psalm 147: 4-5.
Psa 147:4 He keeps track of the number of stars, assigning names to all of them.
Psa 147:5 Our Lord is great, and rich in power; his understanding has no limitation.
This is the same for all creation because God knows even the number of hairs on our heads. When Jesus was talking to His disciples about their fear of the persecution from their enemies. Jesus says this in Matthew 10: 29-31
Mat 10:29 "Two sparrows are sold for a penny, aren't they? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's permission.
Mat 10:30 Indeed, even the hairs on your head have all been counted!
Mat 10:31 So stop being afraid. You are worth more than a bunch of sparrows."
Look at some more examples of the power God wields in His infinite wisdom in Psalm 148.
Psa 148:1 Hallelujah! Praise the LORD from heaven; praise him in the highest places.
Psa 148:2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his armies!
Psa 148:3 Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.
Psa 148:4 Praise him, you heaven of heavens, and you waters above the heavens.
Psa 148:5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he himself gave the command that they be created.
Psa 148:6 He set them in place to last forever and ever; he gave the command and will not rescind it.
Psa 148:7 Praise the LORD, you from the earth, you creatures of the sea and all you depths,
Psa 148:8 fire, hail, snow, fog, and wind storm that carry out his command,
Psa 148:9 mountains and every hill, fruit trees and cedars,
Psa 148:10 living creatures and livestock, insects and flying birds,
Psa 148:11 earthly kings and all peoples, nobles and all court officials of the earth,
Psa 148:12 young men and young women alike, along with older people and children.
Psa 148:13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is lifted up; his majesty transcends earth and heaven.
Psa 148:14 He has raised up a source of strength for his people, an object of praise for all of his holy ones, that is, for the people of Israel who are near him. Hallelujah!
In fact, we can see that all creation is designed to praise God together and there is nothing that will take this decree away, not even God Himself because He commanded it to be for all time. God loves to create and sustain--this is one of the many beautiful things God is and will ever be.
God is beautiful and wields His power justly and when He so decides very quickly. With all of this power God has, do we need to be afraid?
The answer is really no, even though this can be frightening sometimes. In reality though God's enemies need to be, because a lot of times they are going to be examples of His judgments--these are swift and harsh. Repentance needs to be done, healing of the broken needs to be done and a right renewal will sure happen in God's due time.
The righteous need not be afraid. Even though sometimes not seen here by us on earth, the righteous will be uplifted when the time's right. It's just God's decision when. Look out for God's miracles in your life and expect them, however when these are seen, it's a guarantee you will still be surprised sometimes and always in awe of our Great God of creation.