Earth..Solar System...Galaxy...Universe

If you hadn't considered God's immense power and immeasurable greatness before, Day Four of creation might cause you to take pause. In fact, it might just knock you on your keister.

Days One through Three of creation, God did a lot of forming. Light and dark, water and sky, dry ground and seas. During Days Four through Six, he started the process of filling. The cool thing about God's organization is he shares it with us in parallels. Day Four connects with Day One, Day Five connects with Day Two and Day Six pairs up with day Three.

Here's how he starts: Day One he commanded, "Let there be light." And then, he connects Day Four with Day One by making "the lights." Hang on for the wild ride!

First off, he makes our sun and moon. Genesis 1:14-15:

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so,

God didn't just pop our sun and moon into place and say, "Good enough." He set the Earth in orbit around the sun to align Time. He ordered time in segments. Days. Weeks. Seasons. Years. Perfectly planned. Perfectly ordered.

God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.

God knew his creation needed sunlight for growth and sustenance, and he gave us the moon as our night light. He gave the sun charge to rule the day, and he set the moon in place to rule the night. Day and night. Light and dark. Order in the world.

But what really blows my mind is the next five words in Genesis 1:16. Five short words that we can read without hesitation. We skip over these words because they are easily missed. We are going to pause and soak in the wonder of these five words. For pondering them will key you in to God's immeasurable greatness.

"He also made the stars."

The website learningastronomy.com puts it in simple terms:

We live on planet Earth which is part of our local Solar System.
Our Solar System includes the Sun and everything that orbits the Sun.
Our Sun, is just one Star in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy is just one Galaxy in the Universe.

Chew on this for a moment. Our sun is just one star in the Milky Way Galaxy. On Day Four, God didn't just make the sun and moon. God "also made the stars." God created our solar system. God created Mars. God created Mercury. God created Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. God didn't stop there. God created our Milky Way Galaxy and the rest of the galaxies and the entire universe! 

Our God is an awesome God!

Wrapping up Day Four, Genesis 1:17-19 tells us:

God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the fourth day.