In October, we had the great fortune of joining our daughter, Tori, on a visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. It was an amazing trip, probably highlighted by watching bison walk so close to the car that we could have reached out and touched them. I didn’t do that. I wanted to! But I didn’t.
When we left Jackson Hole and got our first glimpse of the Tetons, the sight took my breath away. It was the same feeling I had when I first looked at the Grand Canyon. All you can do is stare in wonder, overwhelmed by the beauty of what you’re seeing. You can’t help but think about God’s power and his sense of beauty when you’re staring at what he’s created.
In the visitor’s center, you can read all about the Tetons: their geology, the history of the park, and much more. You can learn a lot of facts, but I didn’t read anything. I just kept gazing in wonder at the view.
As we wrap up our study of who God is, I think it’s important to change gears a little. We’ve learned about God’s sovereignty and plan and love and justice, as well as his omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.
But let’s not simply learn facts about God. Let’s gaze on him in wonder.
Marvel at the things God has done. Look around at his creation.
Think about the human body for a moment. God designed the nose to detect one-millionth of one milligram of garlic floating in the air and distinguish it from among 10,000 distinct odors. The human brain holds 200 exabytes of information, roughly equal to the entire digital content of the world. As someone once said, if the human brain was so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t. Yet God designed the human brain.
Some of you know that I’m a space geek. My dad was a NASA engineer during the space race, so I knew everything a kid could about the U. S. space program. In the first grade, just in time for the moon launches, my dad gave me a telescope so we could look at the moon together. I got it for Christmas while Apollo 8 was still on its mission. I remember telling Mrs. Robinson next door that I even saw the capsule circling the moon through my telescope. All she said was, “You did? That’s amazing.” A few years later, I realized that she knew I was fibbing.
I still love everything about space. One cold December night a few years ago, our oldest child and I went outside in our front yard, laid down on our backs, and watched the Geminid meteor shower. We saw dozens of falling stars.
Look up at the night sky. Those stars we see are suns, and the stars make up galaxies, and in space, there is galaxy after galaxy after galaxy. We cannot fully comprehend the size and vastness of the universe.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)
Whether mountains, the human body, or the universe, how amazing our God is to create all of this! Our only response should be awe and worship.
Years ago, Louie Giglio used the illustration of the Pale Blue Dot in one of his messages. My daughter bought the photo, and now it hangs in our home. The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of our planet taken on Feb. 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Voyager was about 3.7 billion miles from the sun when it snapped a series of 60 images that were used to create the first “family portrait” of our solar system. From its vantage point, the earth was just a point of light.
In the photo, you can see just how small and insignificant our planet is compared to the size of our solar system. And our solar system is just one tiny speck in our galaxy. Our galaxy is just a fraction of the universe.
When I look at the picture, I’m reminded just how great, mighty, and magnificent our God is. To create something so massive as creation is just mind-boggling. He’s a big God.
But I also look at the picture and realize that God knows and loves each person walking around on that tiny speck of a planet. Just as God can name every star he made, he knows each of us by name. He knows our cares, our wants, our worries, our struggles, and our victories. God sees the universe in all its enormity, yet he knows and loves you.
To me, the Pale Blue Dot doesn’t remind me of how small we are. It reminds me of how big God is, yet how close he is to all who seek him. It reminds me that no matter how big the problem is that I’m facing, my God is even bigger. More than that, he knows my problem, he cares about my problem.
Take some time today to marvel at God. Take time to worship him for who he is. He’s our almighty Creator and our loving Heavenly Father. Choose today to gaze on him in wonder.
I am continually amazed at greatness of our God.Thank you Richard for sharing.Love your ability to communicate what’s on your heart