He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:5 NIV
Thinking about Abraham coming out and looking at the stars reminded me of when I was growing up. I would go outside at night and just look at all the stars. We lived out in the country and at night when it was dark, it was really dark. I could look up and there are so many stars. There were big ones and small ones, bright ones and dim ones, ones kind of by themselves and ones in large clumps. There were stars forming different patterns and designs. It was almost endless what you can see when looking at the stars.
When I moved to the city I noticed that most of the stars had disappeared. I kind of missed the crowded sky, but oh well, I got used to it. I have to laugh, if Abraham had lived in today’s city when God said his descendants would be like the stars in the sky he would have looked up and said “oh, about seventy”.
A while back my wife, daughters and I went camping, or tried to go camping but that’s another story. That night before we turned in for bed I happened to look up and what do you know the stars were all back. Without all the lights of the city and distractions around me the sky was crowded again. It was a beautiful sight.
I guess the stars had been there all along, I just didn’t see them. I’d grown accustomed to not seeing them and not looking or caring. That kinda made me think of our relationship with God. He, like the stars, has been there all along even when we don’t see Him, even when we get distracted or forget to look. It’s the same God and stars that were in the country sky, and the same God and stars that Abraham knew. No matter how busy, distracted or forgetful we get, He’s always there.