God began the use of His amazing GPS with a 911 message for a promise He had made to Abraham. God promised Abraham that he would become the father of a great nation. For this to happen meant that God had to give Abraham at least one son. But time passed. Abraham grew older and older, approaching 100 years of age, yet still no son. He became worried (Gen. 15:1). And to make matters worse, his wife Sarai was barren (Gen. 11:30).
Abraham cried out to God. “What will you give me since I go childless and the only heir I have is my servant Eliezer?” (Gen 15:1).
God dealt with Abraham’s anxiety by taking him outside his tent and giving him an astronomy lesson. He told Abraham to look into the heavens and count the stars if he could. And then God probably jarred Abraham with these words. “So shall your descendants be” (Gen. 15:5). God told Abraham that Eliezer would not be his heir but one would come from his own body [his child] that would be his heir (Gen. 15:4).
Notice that God used the stars as His object lesson. That nighttime picture would be for Abraham a continuous and graphic reminder. What was Abraham’s response? “Abraham believed in the LORD and He [the LORD] counted Abraham’s faith for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). It is this little verse that holds the weight for salvation for all believers throughout the centuries. But again, note God’s connection to the stars.
A wonder of wonders concerning stars is that stars speak – they appear to be silent witnesses in the sky, but they are anything but silent. “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4). This is a miracle. David, the Shepherd/King of Israel, must have heard their voices, and he penned the many psalms [songs] that they were singing.
There are at least 7000 languages in this world, and the stars evidently know them all. He counts the number of the stars. Not only that, but He calls them all by name (Psalm 147:4). God has named all the myriads upon myriads of stars. How big must our God be! Great is our Lord, and mighty in power!
But let’s narrow all this countless number of stars down to one special star. After all it was the north star, officially named Polaris, that gave the early mariners (the Vikings, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and Romans) the ability to navigate the oceans of the world. But the one star that I have in mind was the star that led the wise men to Bethlehem. “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him’” (Matt. 2:1-2).
Unlike the fixed star of Polaris, this star moved, providing an astronomical GPS leading the Magi to the place where Jesus was. “When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was” (Matt. 2:9). Notice carefully the words “went before them.” When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. The star led them to the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. God told them of the nefarious motives of king Herod, and the Magi went home another way, leading Herod away from King Jesus.
The Bethlehem Star is God’s GPS leading the way to One who is the way, the truth, and the life to all who believe in Him!
Merry Christmas
Dick and Linda