He Made the Stars Also

I was recently reading the early chapters of Genesis and was struck—again—by the words of 1:16: “And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars” (ESV). Or as other translations so wonderfully render: “he made the stars also.” Like, “No big deal: God also made the stars.” Or, “By the way, come to think of it, he made the stars.” But, of course, it is a big deal. A very big God made a massive number of stars. And a God that big strikes in us both fear and faith.

I recently read that our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains three to four hundred billion stars and our galaxy is only one of millions. A recent estimate is that God’s universe contains two hundred billion trillion stars. That is a lot of zeros! Twenty-three zeros to be exact. To put this in perspective, if stars were to be divided among the earth’s eight billion people, each of us would have 250 billion stars! We would each possess a Milky Way! These trillions of celestial objects of hot glowing gas are mentioned in Genesis almost in passing as being created by God. Small wonder that the psalmist exults, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). A look above—literally—will go a long way in promoting reverent worship. The thoughtful will realise how small we are compared to how big God is. Reverent fear results. But such consideration can also produce relational and restful faith. After all, since this awesome God is the Christian’s heavenly Father, the awareness that “he made the stars also” serves as a telescope of grace. producing astronomical comfort (pun intended) as we face various terrestrial challenges.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul says that present afflictions are light in comparison to the eternal weight of glory God is preparing for his children (4:16–18). Paul was not dismissing or minimising the very painful trials that threaten our “jars of clay” (4:7). However, Paul was seeking to put our present trials in perspective. It is as though he was saying, “And you know those afflictions you are undergoing? They are weighty, but God is weightier. Remember, God made the stars also.”

Life can be hard, extremely hard at times. For some, life can be especially hard at this time of year. Some Christians will spend Christmas and the New Year in hospital (been there, done that) while others, who are physically strong, will feel the weight of broken relationships, or a sense of forlorn having moved from the familiar to unfamiliar lands and/or cities (like some of our dear church members). Several in our congregation will face a first Christmas without a loved one. These firsts are often painful to bear. The first wedding anniversary, or the first birthday, or the first Christmas without one’s spouse, sibling, parent, or child can be especially heavy. While the malls with their decorations and endless Christmas songs seek to distract us from the harsher realities of life, nevertheless loneliness haunts many a shopper. The point is that heartache, homesickness, and other sorrows are a reality in a world subjected to the horrors of sin. But our sovereign God who “made the stars also” has graciously subjected a fallen world to the hope of a better day (Romans 8:20–23). He who ordains the darkness also ordains the light.

On the first day of creation God sent forth light, which pierced the darkness. On the fourth day of creation, God made the sun the moon and stars (“also”!) setting “them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:17–18). It seems that God is committed to providing plenty of illumination for the pinnacle of his creation: human beings. Though the creation of the vast universe is described briefly, with the creation of stars as a mere footnote, God focused his creative actions on the making of a man and a woman—humanity (1:26–2:25). Those who are God’s children through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ should therefore take comfort in the understatement, “he made the stars also.”

When you are anxious about food or clothing or shelter, you need to consider: “By the way, God made the stars also.” When you are in despair over your loved one’s spiritual apathy remember that “God made the stars also.” When the blood tests reveal disease, pray and “remind” God that “he made the stars also.” When you feel the darkness of a sinful world creeping into your psyche, tempting you to despair, then say out loud, “My God made the stars also!”

Long ago, some wise men from Eastern Mesopotamia looked up into the sky and saw what appeared to be a bright star. That star was probably one of those created masses of flaming gas that God “made also” so long ago. They followed that star until it led them to Jerusalem from which they ultimately found Jesus, God’s Son, who saves his people from their sins (Matthew 1–2). Because these men paid attention to what God put into the sky, their lives were transformed.

Christian brother and sister, like those wise men, look up and remember the bigness of our God. While not minimising our burden(s), let us maximise our theology. The Sunday School song says it well:

And if you doubt that, then remember: “He made the stars also.”

Doug