Morning Devotional

July 20, 2003

“Just a Pebble”  

by Don Emmitte

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O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and nursing infants to give you praise. They silence your enemies who were seeking revenge. When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in place, what are mortals that you should think of us, mere humans that you should care for us? For you made us only a little lower than God, and you crowned us with glory and honor. You put us in charge of everything you made, giving us authority over all things the sheep and the cattle and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O LORD, our Lord, the majesty of your name fills the earth! (Psalm 8:1-8 NLV). 

The night is filled with millions of shining stars twinkling like diamonds against the backdrop of an ink-black sky. The sky seems so large as you wonder at the beauty of the world. To think that the Earth is just one of nine planets in one solar system in one of numerous galaxies. To compare it to the rest of the Universe is to take a small pebble and place it in the center of a football field.

This small planet, which seems so insignificant in this Universe, is filled with billions of people living in various communities. To compare them to the rest of the Universe is to look at that same pebble in the football field and look at a few of the grains itself that comprise it.

Yet we think we know all there is to know and can achieve anything we desire once we put our minds to it! Who would take the time to bother with the pebble there in the field much less the grains comprising it? We would surely kick it away; claiming it is an obstruction or just ignores it altogether. But, on this small pebble, someone actually has taken the time to consider those "insignificant grains" seeing them as worthwhile. As he sits in the last row of bleachers high up in that stadium, he looks down and calls us by name. "Hey Mary," he says. "I love you. And you too Don, don't think I don't see you there hiding. I love you too! I love you all!"

God looks down from Heaven, throughout the entire Universe, down to the Milky Way Galaxy and planet Earth, through the communities, onto your street, into your house, into your room, and finally, straight into your heart. He sees you. God has his eyes on you, no matter how you feel. He's there looking out for you – ALWAYS!

No wonder the psalmist breaks out in such high praise in our reading today. It ought to cause us to praise God as well. Even if we are no more than mere pebbles in comparison to the scope of the universe, we mean everything to God. He has made us that way! And, He has loved us that way!