GOD CALLS US BY NAME
I’m on my annual study retreat, so I’ve been taking more time to star gaze in the evenings and consider God’s greatness. Since the launching of the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have observed that there are an almost infinite number of stars in the universe. In our own Milky Way galaxy there are over 100 billion stars. And scientists estimate that there are at least 10 trillion galaxies with each containing a similar number of stars. When dealing with such incredible numbers, who could possibly count the stars? The Bible says that God can. He not only knows their number, “He calls them all by name.”
Ancient human observers gave the stars names like “Betelgeuse,” which in Arabic means “Armpit,” describing its position in the constellation called “Orion the Hunter.” Modern astronomers prefer more precise nomenclature, giving Betelgeuse the designation “HD39801.” I suppose they ran out of Greek letters and Greek gods rather quickly once the Hubble launched.
An infinite God has no problem naming an infinite number of stars. After all, He made them and flung them across the heavens with a word. If He calls all the stars by name, surely He must call us by name too.
PRAYER: Dear Father, gazing at the stars and considering their names, we look past the creation to You, the Creator. For You are great. You are transcendent, yet also immanent. For You are with us and have called us to Yourself by name. And You have given us salvation through believing in the name of Jesus. In His name we pray, amen.