Look to the Skies

A week ago, my family was driving home from AWANA. It was about 8:00 pm and the sky was a dark blue. I looked out my window, up at the sky, and for the first time really thought about it. For the first time, I really wondered -- just how big is this universe?
The clouds were huge billowing monsters swirled in the sky. The stars were scatted across the darkness. How far away were they? How big were they? How big were those clouds?
Just looking at the night sky was awesome enough, yet the truly amazing thing was that my God actually made it! He made it all, the sky, the stars, and the clouds.
Job was a great godly guy. He was in tune with the Lord even when his children were killed and everything he owned was destroyed. Yet once, only once, he questioned God. And what did God say? Job 38 is God's reply, where God talks about being alive at the beginning, telling the waters where they must stop and measuring the skies. God gets all "snappy" with Job, saying, "Now I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know!" Job was questioning God, and God answered by basically saying, "I'm God, you're not. Let Me handle things."
And ya know what? He did! And He still does! In the end, God took care of Job. In fact, Job was better off than he had been before! Job found twice as many friends as he had before and invited them to a banquet where each one gave him a piece of silver and a ring of gold. God gave Job 4,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys! Plus, God blessed him with seven sons and three daughters. And "In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job." Job lived 140 years and saw his children and grandchildren for 4 generations. Talk about blessings! Job had a great life before God tested him, and now his life was even better!
Remember that passage that talks about the lillies of the field? They do not worry about tomorrow, yet God clothes them with garments more splendid than that of kings! And what about sparrows? They don't worry about their next meal, yet God gives it to them. God loves them.
Think about how much more God loves you and me! If he will take such good care of flowers, you can be sure that we will be blessed.
Think back to the stars and those clouds I saw a week ago. God formed them and perfected the details of each one. They are massive and beautiful.
Ya know what? God thinks we are beautiful! And, this may sound crazy, but he thinks we are more beautiful than the stars, the sky, the moon, the ocean, the jungle. He loves us more than the vast seas and the high mountains.
Looking at that sky, I felt small and insignificant, more than I have ever felt before. Yet when I thought about it, that was one of the greatest discoveries I could ever make. That even though I'm small, messed up, and one out of 6,000,000,000 people, God still loves me as an individual, as me.
Despite of all the wrongs things you've done, God still loves you.