By Michael E. Brooks

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained…” (Psa. 8:3)

The skies over southern rural Bangladesh are different from those where I have lived most of my life. Looking up into the stars, seeing the beautiful moon – this is a moving experience anywhere, anytime. But remove the lights of a metropolitan area, and the pollution of industrialized regions, and they become even more amazing and awe-inspiring. The stars seem even more numerous, the moon so near as to almost be touchable. And the wonder of God’s power, love and grace is more evident than ever.

Paul taught that the very nature of God is revealed in his creation (Rom. 1:18ff). His wisdom is seen in its intricate design. His power is manifest in its awesome size. His love shines through its beauty and the pleasures the creation provides. Perhaps one reason why so many in our increasingly urbanized world grow remote from God is that we do not commune with his work. We spend our days immersed in the concrete jungle, inside buildings or cars, insulated by air conditioning, never looking up. And our nights are devoted to the television, the theater, the places of artificially constructed entertainment or rest. Bright lights, thick ceilings, busy schedules all shield us from the simple act of looking up and seeing God, or at least the evidence of his existence.

There are still rural villages in this world without electricity, industry, pollution or neon. There are still people whose lives, poor though they may be in the things the world considers vital, are far more attuned to the one who made them. We pity them because of their poverty, hunger, medical needs and other deficiencies - in many senses rightly so. Their physical needs are great, and “development” is much sought after that their suffering might be reduced. But their world is one in which the works of God’s fingers are known and appreciated. And therefore the One who made them is much more easily taught, believed in and accepted. Illiterate they may be of the wisdom of the world, but sometimes they may read the more permanent and important signs far more accurately than others considered much wiser.

The Psalmist looked into the heavens and saw God. When our busy lives overwhelm us and faith wavers, let us get away from the bright lights and obstructions and look into the those same heavens. He who made us is still there, still revealing himself to us, and still waiting to receive us with love and grace.