this last weekend i had the opportunity to camp out under the stars with my family. we have never all slept in a tent together, so i didn't know how it would turn out, but i think i will cherish that memory forever.
the top of our tent was see-through mesh, so we could see the stars pretty well when all the lights were off. the boys all fell asleep pretty quickly, but my daughter, the night owl, stayed up to talk with me. we laid there looking up at the stars together, just talking about how awesome God is. we talked about how big He must be to have made all those and how wise He is to know all their names. she wanted me to help her count them all. we tried......
she eventually fell asleep, but i just laid there soaking it all in. the breeze, the birds, the crickets, and the occasional coyote's song off in the distance. and the stars..... i think i could look at them forever.
i got to thinking about abraham and the promise that God made to him. i was thinking that those same stars must have been a reminder to him every night of that promise. some nights he must have looked up at them and thought, "good luck with that, God!" and i wonder how often he tried to count them. and then maybe other nights he couldn't stop staring at them. i wonder how often he fell asleep with a tear of joyful humility running down his face.
thank you God for your handiwork, and your promises, shining ever brighter in the darkness.
Genesis 15: 5 "He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'"
Psalm 8:3-4 "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"
