The Upper Room Daily Devotional Nashville, Tennessee, United States “Not Just Specks” for Thursday, 15 January 2015 - Scripture: Psalm 8:3-9

The Upper Room Daily Devotional Nashville, Tennessee, United States “Not Just Specks” for Thursday, 15 January 2015 - Scripture: Psalm 8:3 I often think of the heavens
    your hands have made,
    and of the moon and stars
    you put in place.
4 Then I ask, “Why do you care
    about us humans?
    Why are you concerned
    for us weaklings?”
5 You made us a little lower
    than you yourself,[a]
    and you have crowned us
    with glory and honor.
6 You let us rule everything
    your hands have made.
And you put all of it
    under our power—
7     the sheep and the cattle,
    and every wild animal,
8     the birds in the sky,
the fish in the sea,
    and all ocean creatures.
9 Our Lord and Ruler,
    your name is wonderful
    everywhere on earth![Footnotes:
8.5 you yourself: Or “the angels” or “the beings in heaven.”]
The psalmist wrote, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”[Psalm 8:3-4 (NRSV)]
As a young boy I would sometimes lie outside on a blanket at night, looking at the stars. I used to think I could count all of them, but I learned in time about the true vastness of the universe. The whole human race is but a tiny speck on the earth. Our earth is just a dot in the Milky Way system with its millions of heavenly bodies, and the Milky Way system is only a small cluster of heavenly bodies in the limitless expanse of the universe. How easy it is to feel alone in all that space!
Our God who created this great universe can see from one of its “ends” to the other. Although we may sometimes feel very insignificant, we know that we are significant because God created us and knows everything about each of us — our needs and concerns, our hopes and dreams, and our fears. God stands ready to comfort, to calm, and to bring us joy and peace. To God, we are not specks far off somewhere in space. To God, we are known and precious and loved.
I still look up to the heavens on dark clear nights and enjoy the beauty of the stars, convinced that God knows right where I am and loves me mightily. God loves each one of us.
The Author: Malcolm Dirksen (South Dakota, USA)
Thought for the Day: We are not just specks in the world but are wonderfully created by a loving God.
Prayer" Dear God, we praise you for your power and majesty and also for your love and concern for each of us. Amen.
Prayer focus: Those who feel alone
____________________________