More Mysterious Than Any
Star
Introduction:
“Star of light, star of bright, first star I see tonight. I wish
I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight.” (Remember that?)
First the mysteries of the stars: They are balls of glowing gases
– hydrogen and helium. How many? 200 billion, billion?
They are the largest bodies in the universe, some a thousand times
bigger than the sun! The nearest star is Proxima Centauri, 4.3 light
years from earth. A light year is the distance light travels in
one year, or 6,000,000,000,000 miles!
Some stars experience death by running out of hydrogen, causing them to
explode in gas and dust. The recent hypothesis is that some stars
are Black Holes. No light is emitted from them; you only know they
are there by their gravitational pull. These stars have such a
gravitational pull that they collapse on themselves. Such stars,
in theory, explode like a million H-bombs. Are there black-hole
church members, whose ego turns back on them until they self-destruct
– just church members, not authentic Christians? They drop out
of church never to return: Jude, Vs 12 – 13.
Quasars (perhaps galaxies – our Milkyway is a galaxy) and pulsars
mysteriously emit “beeps” every second or so.
The atheist describes humans as “ciphers in blind masses.”
They describe the universe as “senseless stars.” The problem
for the atheist is “Why is there something? Why not rather
nothing?”
There is much superstition concerning the stars: The signs of the
Zodiac, Horoscopes and astrology.
The great philosopher, Immanuel Kant, concluded his Critique of Judgment
with these words: “Two things fill the mind with ever new and
increasing admiration. . . the starry heavens above me and the moral law
within me.” Someone said, “Even a cesspool may reflect
starlight.” “The heavens declare the glory of God and the
firmament showeth His handiwork,” declares the Psalmist.
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy
hands have made. I see the stars; I hear the rolling thunder, Thy
power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my
Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art! (Stuart K. Hine)
There is something more mysterious than any star! Proverbs 30: 18
– 19
Today’s English Version captures that which is more mysterious than
any star, namely, “a man and woman falling in love.” The
mystery and the miracle Thomas Wolfe has expressed well: “ What man
can find . . .one face out of a billion faces?” The essence of
the mystery is why does “this person” “fall” for “that
person” and not another?
The song says “some enchanted evening you may see a stranger across a
crowded room, and somehow you know, you know even then, that you will
see her again and again. . . .” Mystery – why that face out of
fifty billion faces? The old boy the girl falls for may be as
“ugly as homemade sin,” and yet she loves him!
This minister advises against quick marriages, and advises a longer
courtship. Couples need time to study multiple moods, or he who
seems to be a prince charming may turn out to be a devil, or she may
turn out to be a witch!
Surely the courtship should be carried out in sexual purity. In
this so-called age of “sexual liberation,” adults as well as
teenagers need to be taught the sanctity of sex – to which the
Scriptures witness that sex is to be confined exclusively to the
marriage bond:
1. The beauty of marriage in “The Song of Solomon”
2. The authentic pleasures of sex in marriage in Proverbs 5: 18 – 20
3. In Paul, 1 Corinthians 7: 3 – 5 NRSV
4. And the warning of Hebrews 13: 4
Marriage
Magic (Thomas Wolfe wrote “Moonlight! Moonlight! Moonlight!”) or
misery! Fifty percent of marriages are failing. Marriage is
not all moonlight. There must be give and take, kindness and
patience. We all have, I suppose, our eccentricities. I say
we need “stickability.” Even though both are born again, there
will be ups and downs.
The marriage vows should be a commitment unto death. (At this point,
read the marriage vows.)
Great Loves:
1. Jacob and Rachel, Genesis 29:20. “Jacob served seven years
for Rachel. "They seemed but a few
days for the love he had to her.”
2. Elizabeth and Robert Browning. They fell in love through
poetry. He wrote to her: “I love your poems and I love you
too.” They spoke of “strange music,” “footsteps of
the soul.”
A great way to have a church fellowship is to invite couples to tell how
they met and fell in love. I asked one elderly couple how they
fell in love. She replied, “Well, he was hoeing on one side of
the row, and I was hoeing on the other side!
There should be absolutely no toleration of mental or physical cruelty
of husband to wife, or
wife to husband.
There is absolutely no excuse for infidelity! In the case of an
unfaithful partner, much prayer
and counseling is needed if the marriage is to continue.
Conclusion
Cry of a lost man:
O waste of loss among hot mazes! Lost among bright stars!
Lost on this most weary, unbright cinder, lost!
(Thomas Wolfe)
Friend, you are not an infinitesimal cipher among trackless stars.
You are of more eternal value than these, for you are an everlasting
soul. But you must make a choice for God in Christ to have a place
in paradise. More mysterious than any star -- the Love of
God.
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