He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Our Lord is great, vast in power; His understanding is infinite. Psalm 147:4-5
For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in His steps. He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth; when He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He was suffering, He did not threaten but entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly. Philippians 2:6-8
My words…
I recently read that astronomers have completed the first measurement of the largest known galaxy, unimpressively named IC 1101. (You, Lord, have named it something else.) This group of stars is approximately 1.7 million light-years across with a mass of about 3.4 trillion suns. This information is too massive for me to conceptualize. However, I get a kick out of reading discoveries such as this because it reminds me, not of the unimaginable enormity of our universe, but of Your boundless power and majesty as the Creator.
Because my feeble brain cannot comprehend the size of IC 1101, I take that information and I squish it to meet my limited mental bandwidth, resulting in the same level of awe. For example, I was standing in my flower garden, holding the water hose over a plant when a hummingbird hovered within two feet of me. I was able to marvel at her coloring and the blur of her wingbeats, the fastest of any bird. I dared not breathe. When she darted away, I raised a silent prayer of thanks for the reminder of Your power and majesty within the confines of my own backyard.
Just as IC 1101 exists beyond my scope of understanding, so do You, Lord. You are limitless in every way. And although I delight in pondering the vastness of Your love and might, I know it is an infinitesimal morsel of insight into Your omnipotence. So, (and I beg Your pardon) I squish You into an idea I can wrap my heart and mind around. And, low and behold, who walks on the scene? You, Jesus! You who walked in dirty sandals, ate figs, stared down temptations, and endured years of human ignorance and arrogance. It is You with Your incarnate beating heart that I look to when I want to see the power and majesty of Your Father. You are amazingly close by, on the pages of my Bible and through the indwelling Holy Spirit. By surrendering to the will of Your Father, You allowed Yourself to be squished, and I am eternally grateful for the humbleness, willingness, and divine love You expressed to do so.
