Beneath a sky of countless stars, the creator of it all knows you by name and he came to rescue you.
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SHAUNA: Hi, this is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope and here’s a hymn I know you can sing with Joni.
(Joni sings:)
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have need, Thy hands have provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
JONI: You know, when I sing about God’s faithfulness, it always makes me think of the heavens, the constellations. As sure as it is now September, you can look up into the night sky and see the constellations shifting, escorting out summer and ushering in autumn. Say goodbye to the Big Dipper, Ursa Major, and Cassiopeia [well, Cassiopeia will still be around in autumn just like Polaris will because it’s the North Star, it never changes] and also there will be other changes with Andromeda, Aries, Taurus – each of them faithfully marking the change of seasons. Truly, the heavens declare the glory of God! Hardly a night goes by lately when I don’t look up into the blanket of stars and whisper, “Jesus, thank you for such a beautiful witness as these amazing stars.”
I mean, think of it. Our solar system, as immense as it is, is just one teeny, small speck in the Milky Way galaxy. How small? Let’s say the Milky Way were the size of North America. And using that scale, our sun and its planets would fit into a little coffee cup somewhere in the little corner of Washington State. And what is more amazing is that the Milky Way [our home galaxy] is just, just you know, an average galaxy among billions and billions of others far bigger.
The number of stars is incomprehensible. Astronomers are now convinced that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on the beaches of the world. Think of that! All the sand on the beaches from Florida to New York, both coasts of Africa, the beaches of western Australia; that’s a lot of sand! And there are more stars in the universe than all those grains of sand. And remember, this does not mean that Earth is a grain of sand; no, our sun – the star – the star would be the grain of sand. And that makes Earth infinitesimally, teeny tiny, small! And on this eensy weensy speck of earth, out of the billions of people, the Lord of the universe came to earth to save you.
Glory be to Lord on high! Truly, like it says in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare his glory as nothing else. No other Bible verse alludes to other parts of God’s creation. The seas do not declare his glory and neither do the mountains or the waves, only the heavens. Little wonder the psalmist said, “When I look up into the night skies and I see the work of your fingers; the moon and the stars you have made, I cannot understand how you can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him!” Praise God, you are no bother to him. Jesus, the Lord of the heavens, has paid attention to you. He came to earth for you. So, please, before the constellations disappear into a new season, go outside tonight, look at the stars, and thank him for your salvation.
© Joni and Friends