Andromeda and the Glory of God Rocked My World!

I came across a link that John Piper shared on facebook a few days ago. It affected me so much that I decided to do a blog post about it. On January 5, Nasa released an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of our closest neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy.

"The Hubble Space Telescope is powerful enough to resolve individual stars in a 61,000-light-year-long stretch of the galaxy’s pancake-shaped disk. It's like photographing a beach and resolving individual grains of sand. And there are lots of stars in this sweeping view -- over 100 million, with some of them in thousands of star clusters seen embedded in the disk."

What rocked my world was not the photo or the video per se, but the fact that God commanded these galaxies (over a hundred billion) into existence.

Isaiah 40:26 (ESV) 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.

Of course no one knows (or ever will know) the number of galaxies or stars in the universe. The only one who knows the exact number is the one who created them.

It is absolutely mind boggling to watch this video knowing that with a word Christ created every star you see (Col. 1:16). Not only that, but Isaiah 40:6 and Psalm 147:4 say that God has given a name to each and every star!

Psalms 147:4 (ESV) He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.

Think of it! Every star you see in this video has a specific name given to it by God. If every star in the universe has a name, it's no wonder that "no creature is hidden from His sight."

Hebrews 4:13 (ESV) And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

 

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Bart Simpson and the Doctrine of Vocation

Several years ago I caught part of an episode of the Simpsons. The Simpson family was sitting at the table ready to have a meal. Bart Simpson was asked to pray. He bowed his head, closed his eyes and said, "Thanks for nothin God. We got this food ourselves."

I worked. I bought. I cooked.

Unfortunately, that's the way many people think. "I worked for the money to buy the food, then I went to the grocery store and bought the food, after that I cooked the food. So, why am I thanking God for the food?" Even Christians can fall into this way of thinking. We pray and thank God before each meal, but we often fail to see just how much God was involved in providing that meal for us.

God works through the ordinary

This is where the "doctrine of vocation" comes in. The word "vocation" comes from the Latin word for "calling." God calls people to their particular stations in life. He calls them to be farmers, truck drivers, teachers, factory workers, grocery clerks, police officers, fire fighters. All of these vocations are necessary for society to function, and God uses these vocations to provide, protect, and bless us.

Your job is your calling

Most people outside of the Christian Faith do not acknowledge that God has called them, but He has nonetheless. He is the One who gives them the skills and abilities to do the work that He has sovereignly placed them in- Acts 17:26 " And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,"

God at Work

So have you ever thought about all of the vocations involved in the breakfast you ate this morning? In his book God at Work, Gene Veith puts it like this:

"When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, observed Luther, we ask God to give us this day our daily bread. And He does give us our daily bread. He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, the person who prepared our meal. We might today add the truck drivers who hauled the produce, the factory workers in the food processing plant, the warehouse men, the wholesale distributors, the stock boys, the lady at the checkout counter. Also playing their part are the bankers, futures investors, advertisers, lawyers, agricultural scientists, mechanical engineers, and every other player in the nation’s economic system. All of these were instrumental in enabling you to eat your morning bagel."

"Though He could give it to us directly, by a miraculous provision, as He once did for the children of Israel when He fed them daily with manna, God has chosen to work through human beings, who, in their different capacities and according to their different talents, serve each other. This is the doctrine of vocation."

Sorry Bart

And this is why we can be genuinely thankful to God for the meal we are about to receive. Through the vocations of many different people, it truly was God who provided the breakfast you ate this morning. Sorry Bart.

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Your Job is a High and Holy Calling: The Doctrine of Vocation

God is at work in the world. But He normally works through means. That is, through ordinary everyday situations and people. Now for sure, God is God, and can work in His world any way He chooses. For example, He could have continued to create the human race the way He created the first man and woman, out of the dust of the ground. He could miraculously provide our food by turning rocks into bread. When we get sick He could always heal us through the laying on of hands, or through prayer.

God works through ordinary people

But this is not the normal way He works. He chooses to provide for and bless us through the "vocations" of normal everyday people. He uses the Pastor to teach us His Word, the policeman to protect us, the farmer to provide food, the truck driver to deliver food to the grocery store, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, as well as a host of others in the medical field to heal us. Yes He could have chosen the miraculous to do all of these things but instead He chooses to work through the ordinary.

The elevation of vocation

This should be encouraging to us, especially as believers, because it elevates our "vocations" from the mundane and menial to the high and holy. During the time of the medieval church, the only "vocations" ("vocation" comes from the Latin word for "calling") were those involved in full time church work, priests, nuns, monks, etc. The peasant farmer, kitchen maid, soldier, tool maker, although all necessary, were looked upon as unspiritual and worldly. The "doctrine of vocation" taught by the Reformers changed all that.

Even the most menial task is holy

Through the "doctrine of vocation" Christians began to realize that even the most menial task is holy. The priest, nun and monk were no holier than the handmaid, farmer, shoe maker, and soldier. Because the Christian is justified by faith, whatever the "vocation", it is a high and holy calling. The Bible makes it clear that every believer is a Priest: 1Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Because every Christian is a Priest, every vocation is holy.

God assigned your job

The Apostle Paul says: 1 Corinthians 7:17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches." It is God who assigns our vocations. Let that encourage you today. And tomorrow, when you wake up and begin getting ready for the day, remember that whatever you do, whether housewife, teacher, truck driver, or grocery store clerk, your job is a high and holy calling.

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