The Night Sky

Note to Reader: As a writer it is a lot of fun to use Calvin and Hobbs comics and Biblical references all at once.  There are a few videos of some length that would be worth watching when time is available.

We frequently write about how much we enjoy being out in nature.  However, especially over the last century the link between nature and our daily lives as a society has gotten weaker.  We live indoors, we play indoors, often we work indoors, and we even travel for the most part indoors with cars.  Now I’m not saying this is a bad thing.  In fact at this moment I am very grateful for this fact as I am snuggled indoors relaxing on the couch while looking out on the world covered with snow and ice with a chilling temperature in the low 20s.   However in some ways as we become more indoor oriented our world gets smaller since we interact less with nature and don’t understand it as well.  I don’t have the skills to track or trap any animals.  I can’t predict the weather by looking at the clouds.  I can’t look out across the landscape and have any idea where I might find a water source- unless I see a water tower on the horizon.  Lately I have been thinking specifically how we have lost touch with the night sky.  Actually in many areas you can’t even see the stars due to light pollution.  

This past fall Arthur and I sat out on our front porch and watched the lunar eclipse and blood moon.  Of course we had read on the internet about what day the eclipse would occur and when would be the best time to view it.  Sitting there watching I did wonder how I would react to this eclipse if I lived long ago when people didn’t predict eclipses or even know how they occurred.  These people might have even slept out under the night sky all the time and all of a sudden the moon is disappearing and is deep red.  I can see how this would be unnerving and frightening.  Frankly today most of us wouldn’t even notice unless we specifically go out to look for some wander in the sky.  

Continuing with this thought of how times have changed, think about navigation.  Explorers used to rely on the stars to orient and direct them to foreign lands.  Of course the stars are only visible at night so during the day they would just hope they were continuing on the correct course.  Can we even imagine that?  Our navigation now relies on satellites in the sky instead of stars.  GPS systems that recalculate instantaneously any time of the day.   GPS navigates within a few feet of the destination.  Stars point in a general direction, usually pointing towards north, and the rest was up to the explorer.  

Another example is time.  Our cellphones clocks are all controlled by radio waves throughout the sky.  Time is also measurable down to atomic levels.  In the past the seasons and months were measured by the appearance of different constellations appearing in the night sky.  

Besides using constellations as a calendar they also served as entertainment.  I have recently been listening to an audiobook about astronomy discussing the planets and stars and the historical links to mythology and folklore.  Ancient people watched these stories and myths play out across the night sky, retelling these stories for generations. In listening to this audiobook, I realized that I can only identify 2 constellations—the Big Dipper and Orion.  There are countless stars in the expansive night sky I know nothing about.  

While I don’t know much about the constellations I do enjoy the wonders of the night sky.  Many years I have gotten up at midnight or early morning to watch the Palisades meteor shower. A meteor shower is a different form of entertainment.  Your eyes are straining watching for flashes of light streaking across the darkness and your neck starts to spasm with constantly looking upwards.  If watching it with someone else it can get discouraging when they say, “Oh there’s one.  Did you see that?  There’s another.” While at the same time you are always just milliseconds too late.  While I was in South Africa there was a gentleman from Australia with another missions team.  He was an amateur astronomer and living in the southern hemisphere he was familiar with those constellations and pointed a few out.  Of course the most recognizable was the Southern Cross.  One evening we were staying at a house in the middle of nowhere, right along the edge of a wildlife park so it was pitched dark and we hung out on the balcony admiring the brilliance of the stars—thousands of them with the Southern Cross as the most prominent.  It is also on my bucket list to see the Northern Lights.  I thought surely during 3 months of living in Alaska I would have that opportunity.  Alas it was poor planning to go during the summer when the sun doesn’t set.  However during the end of the summer it did get dark enough to so some stargazing.  We didn’t see the Northern Lights but once again I will never forget stargazing on the beach with the moon reflecting off the Pacific Ocean.   

Through each of these experiences the night sky was clearly proclaiming God’s glory.  Looking at the night sky we can either feel insignificant like Calvin or be in wonder at the majesty of God and marvel that the God of the Universe wants to have a personal relationship with us.  In Psalms 8:3-4 the psalmist has these same thoughts:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 

 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

David remarks later in Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."  The following video is a favorite of mine that highlights how nature, especially stars declare God's glory audibly even though we are not aware of it.   

 

God also uses a star also to have an important role in the story of Christ's birth.  The star of Bethlehem signaled the Magi of the upcoming event and guided them to worship the Christ-child.  The following video ties information about prophesy and the constellations to the star of Bethlehem.  While I am not a biblical scholar or an astronomer I love the idea that God wrote this story in the night sky before setting the universe in motion-- What a mighty God we serve.  Omnia Vincit Amor.