Something fascinating happened the other night as we left the church building. We looked up, and there it was. A soft halo surrounded the nearly full moon. Amazing! We quickly snapped a few pictures.
If you’re like me, when you look at the moon in the night sky, you feel small or
insignificant compared to the grand expanse of the universe. That may have been what David felt and expressed in the eighth Psalm, When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor (v. 3-5).
What the Psalmist did not know, and we are privileged to know, is that the favor and love God showed man did not begin when he created him on the sixth day. Before the foundation of the world God planned to save man and woman if they sinned (Eph. 1:4). In the fullness of time, he would send his son (Gal. 4:4). The son would freely give up the glory and power of heaven to become a man, only to experience rejection, ridicule, and death on a despised cross (Phil. 2:5-8). God’s love and favor for man and woman is indescribable. In return, he simply asks us to love him, express our love with obedience, and share it with others.
The next time we feel small and insignificant, let’s remember that God was mindful of man’s soul before he formed him of the dust. After man spurned his love, his grace intervened. When the time was right, God became flesh and visited man. He gave the ultimate sacrifice so we could have the opportunity to live with him eternally.
As amazing as the moon is, it pales in comparison to God’s love for you and me!
Today’s verse: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3, 14).
–Teresa Hampton