Then God said: Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the seasons, the days and the years,and serve as lights in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth. And so it happened God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night, and the stars.God set them in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. Evening came, and morning followed—the fourth day.” -Genesis 1:14-19
In the previous three days, God brought form to the formless of creation and on the fourth day God begins to fill the emptiness of creation. On this day God creates the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars, mirroring the first day of the creation of day and night.
As a bit of Scriptural study, the Genesis passage was not allowed to use the names Sun and Moon and instead uses “two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night, and the stars,” because Israel was forbidden to worship the luminaries, which was a temptation since other eastern religions had made them idols. Yet how marvelous is creation that throughout all of history it becomes a temptation to worship!
Yet, David has the right approach in worshiping the Creator for the beautiful creation.
O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place—
What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god, crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands, put all things at his feet will sing of your majesty above the heavens
Psalm 8:2, 4-7
It’s incredible that as we examine the universe, we quickly recognize how small we are! As David praises the Lord for his creation, we too recognize the God of this universe.
Most of our life is dependent on the sun. Our seasons change. Our days come to an end. Our life is measured by rotation around the sun. Yet David mentions, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?”. What is it that our God still wants us to know him personally and to love us?
Even our galaxy, the Milky Way, looks microscopic in comparison to the larger galaxies, and our solar system is infinitely smaller in magnitude. There is purpose to God’s creation of man. We see that we are made distinct on the last day, that we are made very good. God proves his might in all creation and yet his immense love and tender care for us and our need.