Friday, October 10, 2003
Friday, October 10, 2003
And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken
pieces, twelve baskets full.
Consider our universe. Did you know that if you could bore a hole in the sun and somehow put in
1.2 million earths, you would still have space left over for 4.3 million moons. The sun is 865,000
miles in diameter and 93 million miles away from earth. Pluto, still in our solar system but in the
opposite direction, is 2.7 billion miles away. And there are billions of such solar systems. What
are they there for? As best we can determine, they have no other purpose than our enjoyment
and perhaps to serve as a challenge to humanity to keep moving ever outward and upward.
Galileo once put it this way, "The sun which has all those planets revolving about it and
depending on it for their orderly functions can ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in
the world to do." And it doesn't! God has brought into being a magnificent creation with the sole
purpose of providing for God's children's needs. Isn't that mind-boggling?
(Matthew 14.20
NRSV)
One of the lessons Christ tried to teach us was the extravagance of God. He is the God who
provides in abundance--who sets before us a table in the midst of our enemies--who fills our cup
to overflowing. Who when wine is needed for the wedding feast tells us to fill the water pots, and
fill them to the brim--who when the Prodigal returns home kills the fatted calf and throws a big
party. Most of the worries that beset us would disappear in a moment if we could lean back and
rest ourselves on the extravagance of God's provisions for His children's needs. All of nature
testifies to God's bounty.
Lord Jesus, thank you for everything you provide for me. Often I take it for granted, but, as you
provide, may I be drawn closer to God's holiness. Amen.
