God of the Stars

Verse: Psalm 147:1-6
Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.
The Lord sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.

Devotion
“How good it is to sing praises to our God!” It makes sense. It’s just …. right. Just like it makes sense to applaud after an amazing song at a concert, or cheer when your team scores a touchdown, or have a party when someone gets married…it just makes sense to praise God. In fact, it’s hard to imagine not praising the Lord given what the Psalmist writes next!

It makes sense to praise the Lord for two important, but very different, reasons. First, God is great, and second, God is near.

First, we praise God because he is so great, so beyond our understanding, so powerful and wise, that all we can do is praise him. He “determines  the number of stars and calls them each by name.” What?? There are roughly 100 billion stars in our galaxy. He’s named them???? Sometimes it is easy for me to lose sight of just how incredibly other God is. How big, and strong, and wise, and beyond all human comprehension. Indeed, “Great is the Lord and mighty in power!”

But we also praise him because he is so near to us. The God of the stars leans down to heal our hearts and bind up our wounds. This is such an intimate gesture. You have to get close to someone to bind up their wounds. You have to lean in, to touch, to be close. God comes near to you and I because of his great love for us. Why does he love us? It’s hard to imagine. But he does. And he offers for all who will receive him that he will come into our lives and bind up our broken hearts and heal our wounds.

How good it is to praise the Lord! Let these thoughts from this passage fill your heart today as you choose an attitude of worship!

Author: Christian Dunn