Take a look at the picture for a moment. Pick a rock and look more closely. Observe its shape, how it fits to the ground.
Now consider that as someone who lives in the 21st century, you are looking at something no one from centuries past has been able to see. The estimated 108 billion people that lived before you never got to see that rock.
What you’re looking at, of course, is the amazing view from
the latest NASA Perseverance Rover which landed on Mars earlier this month.
Those rocks on Mars have always been there since creation,
waiting to be discovered. Waiting for you to look at them through the window of
a space probe.
When the Bible talks of God making the heavens, it’s almost
a throwaway line in Genesis. As the passage describes Him making the sun and
moon, it says ‘He also made the stars’.
And not just the stars. The planets, the solar system, the
fringes of space. And that rock you have chosen to look at.
God is a creative God. Just as he made the stars – and the
rocks on Mars – so He made you and me. Not only that, he made a way for us to
know Him. Despite our best efforts to ignore Him and do our own thing, He made
us to love Him and showed His love in sending His Son, Jesus.
God, who is from eternity, was born in Palestine, lived and
died a man, and created a way for us to know Him, through death on a cross. The
tragic moment was also a creative moment. As Jesus rose from the dead, His
enemies were defeated and even today, even in the fast tempo, know-everything
21st century, the invitation is the same.
The God who made the rock you are looking at made you. Made you
to know Him as a Father, made you to be loved and cared for as a child. He
shaped you, formed you, made you. Loved you.
And still loves you.
At the same time as that rock is being viewed for the first
time, each of us have faced a year when all around us became seemingly less
solid than that rock. A time of contagion, of economic breakdown, of separation
and loneliness.
But there is One, steadier than a rock, who still cries out:
‘Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a
righteous God and a Saviour; there is none besides me.’ (Isaiah 45: 21)
During this time of lockdown, with a realisation that there
must be more to life, thousands have prayed a prayer for the first time, asking
for forgiveness and for a new life. You can pray it too:
Lord Jesus, I know you are alive and are still changing lives today. Please change mine. Forgive me Lord for my life lived without you. I invite you in right now as my Lord and Saviour. Please come and change me. Amen.
May the God who formed you and who made the rocks on Mars be
your Father too. May the God who sent His own son Jesus be your Lord. May the
God who loves you be known by you.
And if you prayed that prayer, do message me and let me
know.
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