In the Old Testament, there are several occasions that God likens His children, or future children rather, as the “sand which is upon the sea shore innumerable” (Joshua 11:4). He also used stars as an example of their multitude(Exodus 32:13). Innumerable as the grains of sand on the sea shore and as uncountable as the stars in the heavens.
Those similes have always interested me. Why sand and stars? Not dirt, not clay, not grass. There are uncountable blades of grass in the world, unimaginable volumes of dirt, numerous areas of clay, but these were not used to describe the numbers of His children that would come forth.
Sand and stars. Are there two more different elements in the universe? Yet, there must be some connection. God must have created something in the stars and in the sand that He found to be like His children.
They are uncountable. But beyond being uncountable, they have other characteristics that can be compared to God’s children. For example, sand and stars are not bound together nor depend on each other to be what they are. They are independent. It is easy to think of just one star and just one grain of sand. A pile of dirt or a lump of clay is hard to picture grain by grain. Christians should be that way too. While it is nice to be with other Christians and important to stay united, an individual Christian is just as strong on his own. Independent of his brothers and sisters, a Christian will look and act like a Christian if he is the only Christian left on earth. Like the sand and the stars, there is no change just because he is separated from others like him.
Another interesting characteristic is that each grain of sand and each and every star is unique one from the other. While at first glance, they may appear identical, you have only to grab a handful of sand on the beach and look closely to see the differences. Every color in the rainbow, every shape imaginable. Under a microscope you could see that even the cellular structure is different. It’s the same with the stars. The longer you concentrate on the sky, the more obvious their differences become. Christians, once again, have that in common.
On the surface, and at first glance, we all look alike. We are suppose to, that’s part of being a Christian. But as you inspect each one of us, you can see a remarkable range of differences. God made each of us with our own special skills and talents. One sister may be able to sing and glorify the Creator in song, while a brother may use his skill with tools to edify and serve God’s purpose.
The Body of Christ is a many membered body. We have different callings, different gifts, and different plans for our lives. But, like the sand and stars, we all play a part in His Ultimate Plan. Not only as a group, but as the individual children of God. Just as sure as he knows the number of stars in the sky, and grains of sand of the shore, He knows each individual child He has Fathered. And whether we look up to the sky, or down to the ground, we can see the testimony of God’s creation. He will never leave us, He will never forsake us. There are never so many Christians that we get lost in the crowd.
Perhaps the little shepherd boy, all alone with his few sheep in the desert, said it best when he sang his psalm to God thousands of years ago. “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite” Psalms 147:4,5 |
