Right Ascensions: Devotions for the Backyard Astronomer Spring Skies
Spring Skies
The heavens declare the glory of God. . . Psalm 19:1
In Right Ascensions, believers get daily inspiration from God’s masterwork, The Heavens. There, written in starlight on a canvas of infinite depth, is God’s love letter to us. Who but God could have stretched a canvas so fair and placed it in a position so obvious we could not fail to see Him? His mercy is great above the heavens and His truth reaches to the clouds (Psalm 108:4). With the words of this devotional, let God be exalted above the heavens and His glory above the earth.
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April 1 Go in Peace
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14).
Not long ago, I bought some used telescope equipment, used because that was all I could afford at the time. I found I owned pieces of 3 different telescopes, broken down in a muddle in a dilapidated box. As I put optical tubes to tripods, the telescopes proved to be in fairly good shape. In fact, despite their state, once power was restored, they became useful again.
In these telescopes, I see how seemingly useless junk often can be salvaged and restored. In fact, when the discarded thing is given another chance, given new batteries and purpose, it becomes the perfect tool.
God, especially, uses broken things—like an alabaster box. The story goes like this: When Simon, a Pharisee, threw a big dinner for Jesus, a woman crashed the party. Right in the middle of dinner, she fell to her knees before Jesus, washing His feet with her tears and wiping His feet with her hair. Then the woman shocked everyone when she took an alabaster box of spices, precious beyond belief, and broke it to anoint Jesus’s head with the ointment. The fragrance of such rich perfume spread through the entire house. But the disciples, especially Judas, sniffed at the odor, saying, “Why was this ointment wasted? It should have been sold, and the proceeds given to the poor.”
But Jesus understood the brokenness of the woman. He said, “She has poured this ointment on my body for my burial.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Matthew 26:6-13; Luke 7:36-50).
God uses broken things. He used a broken woman and a broken alabaster box to show the difference between those who love little and those who love much. Broken over her past sins, the woman showed great love for the Savior in a gesture that was not ‘a waste,’ but a sacrifice of incense ascending to the throne of God.
Lord Jesus, because I fall short of Your glory, I am broken and unfruitful. But You gave Your life for mine that I might be restored to fellowship with You. Because You were broken on the cross, You are able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by You, seeing You ever live to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). Let my brokenness be a sweet incense of praise rising in a true and right ascension to Your throne.