Star Power – Isaiah 40:21-26

There are an estimated 400 billion stars in our galaxy.  There are an estimated 2 trillion galaxies in God’s universe.  A low end estimate of how many stars there are in the universe – 1 billion trillion stars.  Watch a cool video about this.  God knows exactly how many stars there are, and has named them, and He wants to know why we don’t trust Him with the course of our lives.

Do you not know? Do you not hear?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.  Lift up your eyes on high and see:  who created these?  He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.  (Isaiah 40:21-26 ESV)

Isaiah continues building his case for Yahweh’s greatness.  He speaks with a sense of astonishment at the fact that he must make this case to Israel, who should have known this, been told this, from the beginning.  Compared to God we are like grasshoppers, the vast heavens are like a curtain or a tent that He spreads out to house the array of stars.  And mighty nations, whom Israel has feared, He brings to nothing.  They are like plants that wither at His blast.  There is no need to fear them.

So Yahweh cannot be compared to anyone, be he human or supposedly divine.  There is no one besides Him who is capable of commanding the starry host, the universe of planets in solar systems, the black holes and whatever else exists because He made it.  He numbers and names every one.

When we see our problems in front of our eyes they loom large.  But when we see them in comparison to who God is, they are nothing.  Our problems shrink in size and we see that He is able to remove them or give us strength to deal with them.

Discussion Questions

1. What kind of a star gazer are you?
2. How do you think Isaiah and Israel took God’s description of earth as a circle?
3. Can you really believe that God brings rulers of the earth to nothing?  Why or why not?
4. Why do you think God has named each star He created?
5. How do you feel when you contemplate the immensity of God’s power?
6. What issue have you failed to consider in light of God’s great power?