O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
-Psalm 8 (NRSV)
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Today's Scripture
When I look at your heavens ... the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? -Psalm 8:3-4 (NRSV) |
"DO you ever think we'll put a man on the moon?" In my youth, the answer to that question was usually, "I doubt it." But 40 years ago today, I joined millions around the world who watched Neil Armstrong step onto the lunar surface. Not long ago I gazed into the heavens and watched a streak of light track across the night sky, light from a space station where astronauts orbit miles above the earth. Space is no longer beyond our reach.
The exploration of space has confirmed for us the vastness of our solar system and the universe beyond. I may never travel in space, and certainly I won't be able to reach its limits. Yet every day I can enjoy first-hand closeness with the omnipotent God who spoke all this into existence. The psalmist, who could only imagine what existed beyond the visible heavens, was certain about what existed in the heart of the God who created them: love and concern for humankind. And the psalmist was awed by the concept, as we should be.
Even if I were able to travel past the farthest star, I know that journey could never take me beyond the love and care of God. To me, that truth is more astounding than the vastness of space.
Richard L. Mabry (Texas, USA)
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Thought for the Day God cares for every part of creation.
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