by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Looking Up

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

And he brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Genesis 15:5 English Standard Version

The only way to see stars is by taking our eyes from our feet and looking up. Indeed, the world looks different when we point our heads to the sky whether during the darkness of night or the brightness of day. The expanse of the sky might scare us, making it more desirable to keep our heads down and focused on where we’re at.

God called Abram, whom God would later rename Abraham, to look up and count the stars. Imagine what that must have been like for him. No light or air pollution hindering his view of the stars. Think about how overwhelming it must have been for him to even begin to count stars.

Yet, in looking up, God gave Abram a promise. This old man and his elderly wife were going to have descendants as numerous as the stars even though they were yet to coddle an infant in their arms.

Magi from the east were also called to lift their eyes to the heavens and see the appointed star that would lead them to where a small child lived with his parents, a child who was the light of the world, the child who would fulfill the promise that the Lord made to Abram.

Maybe it’s time for those who believe in this child to lift their eyes and count stars. Life can feel lonely when all we do is look down and only see only our feet. Life can be lonely when we forget that we believe in the communion of saints, the communion of God-promised stars. Stars exist in community and so do we, a community that looks to the Star shining from a manger.

In Christ, you are one of those stars!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado