It reads like an afterthought: a casual claim within the grandiose story of creation. Following a narrative on solar and lunar systems comes this five-word sentence: “He also made the stars” (Gen.1: 16 NIV).

Astrophysicists use the Hubble Space Telescope to map His sky. After spending hundreds of hours gathering light, the Telescope allows them to see further into a specific region. They isolate and measure a ‘slice’ of it, then compute its approximate size. According to their estimate, our universe consists of some two trillion galaxies.

In our galaxy, the Milky Way, there are an estimated 100-400 billion stars. Scientists estimate that most of these stars host their own planetary systems. It is difficult to grasp.

Our planet Earth is some 93 million miles from the Sun, our nearest star. Despite the scant reference in Genesis, God gave special applications to His stars. Without our Sun, we could not survive. Radiation transfers its heat to our planet seamlessly; its light as well. All of the stars’ positions change except the Pole star, Polaris, which is fixed with the Earth’s axis rotation. This North Star continues to guide navigators with a virtual compass in the sky.

Like everything else in God’s world, there is intent and purpose.

British astronomers used a NASA telescope to capture sounds emitted by stars light years away from Earth. Writing in the journal, Science, the team says the “music” gives a more accurate picture of their size and structure.

The pulsation of the stars makes them ‘sing’. Amazingly, no star makes the same sound. Each is unique, with varied pitch, timbre and rumbling. Professor Ian Roxburgh of Queen Mary College said, “It’s like listening to the sound of a musical instrument and then trying to reconstruct the shape of it.”

Isaiah wrote, “Thus says the Lord, ‘My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.'” (Is. 45:11,12 ESV, NIV)

It is God’s mass choir: a celestial chorus whose proportions we cannot begin to grasp. The Psalmist wrote, “How pleasant and fitting to praise Him! …He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” (Ps 47: 1-4 NIV) That is a whole new conversation!

After all of man’s research and development, we have identified only a pitiful sliver of the galaxy where we live. The writer’s offhand reference to God’s work on day four becomes a symbol of His magnificence. We gain an otherworldly perspective on the call of the Psalmist to, “Come, let us sing to the Lord.” We join our voices to the song of the stars, “For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise… For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” (Ps.96: 1-4 NIV)

He also made the stars.

Blessings to you all….

REMINDER: If you live in the Baton Rouge area, we would love to see you next weekend, Sunday, January 18, at Family Worship Center. I will be joining Donnie, Frances, Gabe, Matthew, and the whole FWC family for both services. We would love to see you, too!

You can also watch the services on the SBN television network or via their Facebook or YouTube livestreams. Sunday, January 18, at 10 am and 6 pm CST.