Something In the Stars

Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Starry Night” hangs in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. The painting is one of the most recognizable artworks in the world. It has been reproduced not only as a painting but on coffee mugs, T-shirts, towels, magnets, etc. The picture, without a doubt, is a classic work but it may, for most of us at least, draw from us a sense of wonder at more than just beautiful art. In its depiction of the sky, we may just see something in the stars. Something bigger than us!

Through his mental illness and depression, even Van Gogh understood that there was something bigger, something more, when he looked at the stars. In a letter to his brother, Theo, Van Gogh writes, “When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion, then I go out and paint the stars.”⁽¹⁾ Van Gogh may call it “religion” to recognize spiritual things bigger than ourselves. Scripture indicates it is God communicating to us through His creation. The Psalmist puts it this way:

The heavens declare the glory of God;

    the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

    night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;

    no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

    their words to the ends of the world  (Ps 19:1-4).

This general revelation of God through His creation is obvious to all of us. He shows Himself to everyone. The realization of this truth, that God is revealing Himself to us through His creation, can start us on the path to seeking Him. That is what God desires. If we listen, if we allow God to speak to us, we see and sense Him calling us and drawing us to Himself. Telling us that there is something more and that that “more” is God Himself.

Paul tells us in Romans that “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Ro 1:20). What is it that we are “without excuse” for or from? The idea that God does not exist. Our recognition of God as the Creator is the beginning. Dismissing Him as such is the beginning of the end. It doesn’t matter who we credit the creation to. Whether we exchange God as the Creator for idols and other gods, as Paul described in Romans, or for what we perceive to be enlightenment through science or philosophy makes no difference. We are going in the wrong direction. On the other hand, if we recognize that the whole of creation is calling us to God, we allow the natural inclination of our created hearts to see creation as full of God’s fingerprints. 

Here’s something really cool: Once we recognize that God is calling us through His creation, the reminder of God’s existence and presence is always there. It certainly doesn’t hurt to get outside, away from the craziness of our day to day lives, and renew the realization of God’s greatness through nature, but we don’t have to go to the wilderness to see it. I can see it when I look out my office window and see the trees. We can see God’s presence in a brief glimpse of a hawk gliding effortlessly along as we’re parked on the side of the road. Even in the rising and the setting of the sun each day. No matter where we are, everywhere we look is a reminder of our Creator.

Not only that, we can point this out to others as well. No preaching necessary. Just simply point the way. “Have you ever contemplated the expanse of the universe? Or the intricacies of life on our planet?”, we might ask. We can explain that what we see around us screams, creator! Could all of this come by random chance?

Of course, there are certainly those who believe that random interactions resulted in evolutionary development, and our rising from a primordial soup with no outside or supernatural intervention. Or maybe, that is just the easy answer for many of us because it is what has been thrown at us from every side. But, is it really true? Does it make sense? Our task is not to argue but to gently stir a sense of wonder. A second look. With the gentle prodding of the Spirit there will be those who will ask: Where did it all come from? Who put it all in place?

Yes, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” we just need to recognize their “voice.” In the process we’ll bolster our own faith when we can see Him everywhere. What’s more, we can help others to realize that there really is something in the stars and what we see is God Himself.

⁽¹⁾ Letter to Theo van Gogh, from Arles, September 29, 1888. "An Examined Faith: Social Context and Religious Commitment" by James Luther Adams and George K. Beach, p. 259, 1991.