Have you ever star-gazed on a clear, cloudless night? The beautiful sky, filled with innumerable stars—doesn’t it make you feel so small and insignificant? Even just thinking about the vastness of space sends shivers down my spine. Here we are, over 7.9 billion people, on a planet so small compared to the sun. Genesis 1:16 sums up the vastness of God’s infinite power with a small, yet powerful statement: “…He made the stars also.” (KJV) It was SO easy for God to make trillions of galaxies in just a few seconds out of literally nothing! No matter how hard one tries, no one could ever comprehend God’s power.
Yet out of all of God’s magnificent creation, man (mankind) is the ONLY creation made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27): “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Man was the climax of God’s creation, His masterpiece. God said that everything He made was “good”, but He called man “very good.”
But why us? David asks the same question in Psalm 144. “LORD, what is man, that Thou takest knowledge of him! Or the son of man, that Thou makest account of him!” (Psalm 144:3). But here David does not ask a rhetorical question. He gives the answer in verse 4. “Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” David compares life to a shadow that passes away. And it’s true. Life is short. Covid-19 has proven that very fact to be true. But why does David compare life to a shadow? The truth is, just like a shadow, this life is not the reality. As Christians, our life doesn’t end here on this earth. This world is not our final destination. Our days on this earth are numbered—life here is short.
This world is not perfect anymore. It’s no longer the way God intended it to be. Man’s decision to sin polluted God’s perfect creation. It brought opposition, hate, toil, pain, destruction, and death. It caused separation from our perfect, all-powerful Creator. But God’s mercy is everlasting (Psalm 136). God desires to have a perfect, holy relationship with us. But He couldn’t neglect our sin. Instead, He sent His only begotten Son to pay the debt we owe. Jesus took our death so that we might have His Life (John 3:16).
Life is hard. It hurts. But it’s not the end. It’s just a shadow that passes away. For Christians, this world is the worst it can get for us. As Christians, we have a hope for the future that unbelievers don’t have. One day, God will destroy this earth and make a new earth, perfect and sinless. Can you imagine what life after this earth will be like?
Staring into the brilliant, vast sky is one thing, but I can’t wait until the day we can gaze into the face of our Lord and Savior, our all-powerful Creator. What a day that will be!
