Look Up into the Heavens: Ashley Palmer
Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.
O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:26-31, NLT
Look up into the heavens, says the LORD, and I walked outside. I was visiting my grandparents when I got to this part of Isaiah. They own a cabin in the Ozarks, and when you walk outside you come to a meadow where the skies are vaster and wider than I have seen anywhere but perhaps Kansas, but here they are hemmed in by hills and trees stretching to the heavens—shortleaf pine, oak, black walnut, juniper. Look up into the heavens. I always went out to watch the sun sink beneath the cliff that the White River has carved, the cliff and the trees. I would crane my neck and look up and I could only just see the trees in my peripheral vision—the whole world became the sky, blue and pink and purple and gold. And at twilight, God brought out the stars, one after another, like an army, calling each by its name.
This was the vastness of God, one sliver of it. Even now it brings tears to my eyes. Because if God calls the stars by their names, how much more does He call us by our names? Because of His great power and incomparable strength, not one of us is missing. He leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one, while never truly abandoning the ninety-nine, for He is everywhere and in all places. The Creator of the vast universe knows us by name.
When you look up at the heavens, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? How can you say God ignores your rights?
He sees, yes, that is clear from the heavens, from the calling of the stars by name. He sees everything. He sees our troubles, but does He do anything about them? People die too young and without ever knowing God. People suffer in the grips of their own minds as they struggle against mental illness. Marriages come to the edge of breaking. Christians hurt other people supposedly in the name of God.
God sees all of this, and He tells us to look up at the heavens. He sees our troubles. And He does not ignore our rights.
God alone does not grow tired or weary. All of the rest of us, when we look at this dying world, we crumble. Even we who are the young, we become weak and tired, and exhausted, we fall. But God gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Note the reversal. To the weak He gives power, and to the powerless he gives strength. They are almost the same thing, but God doesn’t always change your circumstances, even though he is a just God, and one day there will be justice even when there is none in this world. When we trust in God’s love, mercy, and justice, He gives us the power and the strength that we need to be a light shining in the darkness of the world. Every one of us a star, and stars when taken together become guides to the lost.
The other evening, Tayt, Jamie, and I were out watching hawks and Mississippi kites. Far above the tallest of the loblolly pines, they flew so high that they appeared to touch the clouds, soaring with wings outstretched, and we peered into binoculars to see them. Look up to the heavens. We will soar high on wings like eagles. This is God’s promise. Right now we run and grow weary. Right now we walk and faint. But one day we will run and walk, and exhaustion will not touch us. This is not a promise just for after death. This is a strength God offers us now, through the Holy Spirit. The strength and power of knowing that Jesus defeated sin and death and is making the world alive again through His Church. When all I can see is death and the people around me are tired and weary, I will look up at the heavens. I have no answer to the question of why God lets all these awful things happen, not an answer that comes in words. My only answer is to look up, and to remember God’s power, love, and mercy.
Ashley Palmer (a LA Tech graduate of Computer Science and English) is a blessing to The Wesley. As she continues to live in Ruston, she works as a remote Software Developer for Praeses, LLC in Shreveport. She is also a fantasy novelist currently editing her first novel: Among the Skies. In addition to writing, Ashley enjoys making attractive websites and apps, digital art, reading, and good food. She is kind, knowledgeable, and devoted to her relationship with the Lord. She is also a member of our Wesley Discipleship Team. We love her and are thankful to have her in our community!