USGN Article  - May 2004
Terry & Barbi Franklin
Written by Barbi Franklin
 

Sorry, It Already Has a Name!

I did something funny the other day.  After I read Psalm 147:4, which says, “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name”, I went to do a search on the internet…

It was just as I thought.  Hundreds of web sites came up with every kind and style of gimmick.  And all I entered into the search field was, “NAME A STAR”.  I wonder how many stars in God’s great galaxy have been named more than once by the sincerely clever, novelty-driven sales people and their buyers – searching for the perfect gift for birthdays, engagements, 50^th Wedding Anniversaries, Christmas’s and Mother’s Days.

If I didn’t take this verse in the Holy Bible’s collection of Psalters seriously, I think I might fall for the romanticism of a gift so ardent… especially from my husband (I’m the one always looking for another “chick flick).  I don’t blame the ignorant for falling for such a dreamy and exotic idea and forking out money for a star; I don’t even blame the entrepreneurs for taking advantage.  But how ironic!

Just a few chapters earlier in Psalm 145, it says, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.  The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made… The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made” (verses 8-9 & 13b).  So, if he has called each star by name already, and they are just stars, what do you think he thinks about you?

Don’t you think God knows all about you, including your name, if He has even determined the NUMBER of the trillions (an incalculable amount) of stars he flung into to universe during creation?  I’ll answer that… ABSOLUTELY!!  And He is gracious and compassionate toward YOU… slow to anger and rich in love toward YOU.  He’s a loving God reaching out to you so that you will grasp how significant you are to HIM.  You are His treasure, His precious child, that He was awed when He formed you and even wants to spend eternity with you.

In Psalm 139 you get just a brief glimpse of His knowledge and understanding of you.  While you were fearfully and wonderfully knit together by God’s own hands in your mother’s womb, He already knew all the days ordained for you before even ONE came to be (vs 13-16), even knowing all the mistakes you would make.

Just think, you are much more than a star!  You are a child of the Creator of the universe.  He is calling you by name, and if you so much as glance toward Him, He’s right there loving you and ready to share His entire inheritance with you.  That’s worth shouting about!  That’s a gift that money can’t buy.  (Now, try reading Isaiah 55 again!)

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