By Woody Preston
Living out in the country means city lights don’t diminish the magnificence of the night sky. I can name some of what I see when I look up—the moon, Polaris (the North Star, by which ancient mariners would navigate), Venus, the second brightest object in the sky on a clear night, the Big Dipper, and a few others. They’re all part of the Milky Way Galaxy, a name derived from the fact that the stars are so numerous they cause some areas of the night sky to appear “milky”.
In 1977 two satellites were blasted into space, Voyager I and Voyager II. They were tasked with exploring our known solar system. For almost fifty years, Voyager I has been going strong at a speed of 34,000 miles per hour and is now some 14 billion (that’s “billion” with a “B”) miles from mother earth. Scientists calculate it will take another 38,000 YEARS for Voyager I to reach the known edge of our neighborhood, the solar system that features eight planets orbiting a star we call the sun. It is just one of many, many solar systems in a universe containing trillions of stars.
Who could name them all? The Bible tells us God named every star when He spoke them into existence and hung them in space (Psalm 147:4). I have trouble remembering the names of my ten grandchildren, and the names of church brothers and sisters! (If you see me coming towards you thumbing through my Bible, I’m probably looking for your name from the list written on the flyleaf). I’m glad God never forgets my name and knows the names of every star. There’s something very reassuring about that. He knows us, He understands us, He forgives us, and He calls us by name! When I pray to Him, He knows it’s me, not just “somebody”.
Someday soon, He will rename all His children (Isaiah 62:2; Revelation 3:2). The old hymn, “A New Name in Glory” declares in its chorus, “there’s a new name written down in glory, and it’s mine, oh yes, it’s mine!” So the next time you look up at the night sky and see the stars God has named, perhaps one of them might just be your new name!