Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights – the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night – as well as the stars. God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:14-18
Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? Can you bring out the constellations in their season and lead the Bear and her cubs? Do you know the laws of heaven? Can you impose its authority on earth? Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you? Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go? Do they report to you: “Here we are?” Job 38:31-35
My words…
A Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving
You appointed the celestial bodies a place in the sky, a place where they would never move. You would not let darkness prevail on earth; even when the earth revolves away from sun, there are lights to dispel darkness. When I fail to see Your presence in my daily view of the world, I need only to wait until nightfall and look upward. I see a dipper! Did You do that on purpose? And the sun! What a joy-bringer! Its rays of light and warmth chase away malaise naturally. Last week I gazed upon a “supermoon.” When the next supermoon is visible, I will be looking at it with 75 year old eyes or looking at it in Your company (dark side and all!). Beyond the beauty and grandeur of the stars, sun, and moon is the way they act as timepieces, for when You set them in place, “the clock” started ticking. I celebrate a birthday and an anniversary because You appointed a place for the stars. I observe special days and holy days based on the cycle of the moon or a specific day of a specific month. All of this and so much more exist because of what You created on the fourth “day.” What a “day!” Thank You for setting in place a spectacle of Your majesty and power in the sky for my eyes to behold each day and each night. Only You can fasten the chains of the Pleiades and loosen the belt of Orion. I turn my face skyward and thank You and praise You.
