A couple of weeks ago I borrowed my brothers telescope from him. I figured he'd have enough of heavenly bodies to explore for the next little while...
We've been seeing some amazing things. Saturn, tilted just on it's side, looking into the rings. Jupiter with it's moons, Ganymede, Europa, Callisto and Io, all visible as tiny specks of light, moving around Jupiter.
It's been amazing really. They've been out there for thousands of years. Before I was walking this planet, they were there. And long after I'm gone, they'll still be out there, doing their thing.
So tonight I went out and looked up into the sky, and Jupiter was still there. Sparkling like a diamond in the night.
People come and people go, and still it sparkles like a beauty.
I ask "Why?"
"Have you visited the treasuries of the snow? Have you seen where the hail is made and stored? I have reserved it for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war. Where is the path to the origin of light? Where is the home of the east wind?
Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning? Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives? Who sends the rain that satisfies the parched ground and makes the tender grass spring up?
Does the rain have a father? Where does dew come from? Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens? For the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes.
Can you hold back the movements of the stars? Are you able to restrain the Pleiades or Orion? Can you ensure the proper sequence of the seasons or guide the constellation of the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe and how God rules the earth?"
I suppose it's about perspective. The view from here, as opposed to the view from heaven.
These are tough questions God is asking of Job. They were God's response when Job, with a bit of attitude, asked God "Why?"
Why indeed.
The answer is enough for now. God knows what he's doing. I've never known him to fail an individual, or a sunrise. I've not seen him mess up the movement of the stars, or forget and just cause rain to fall on the places people live. He is faithful. He is love. He is all powerful. These things I know to be true.
Tonight as I looked up into the sky, I knew. God is good, all the time.
So true. Aren't the heavens amazing? Every time I look at the moon I am captivated; and those October nights as a young man when my Mom and I would walk out to the fields North of small-town Saskatchewan to see the sky, from horizon to horizon, domed with Aurora Borealis...or in those same fields when the time was right and we could see the belt of the Milky Way...
ReplyDeleteWow. God is amazing. God is good.
Those ae good verses to remember, especially stripped of context so they carry less of the "what do you think you are that you dare to ask why?" feelings.
ReplyDeleteYep, God IS good all the time.
"I figured he'd have enough of heavenly bodies to explore for the next little while..."
;-)
Thanks for reminding me of honeymoons. Made me smile.
Funny how I never read Job for years. Now these last few chapters are passages that draw me back, expecially when I start asking my "why" questions. There is a consistancy and infinate solidness to God that I can depend on even when my life looks like it is falling apart. Knowing God is like that makes me feel safe in spite of what life dishes out.
ReplyDelete