Numbers

Today, for the first time ever, there will be 7 billion people living on Planet Earth!
Some will be like us, but the vast majority will be astonishingly different in their life expectancy and prospects. Apparently, an average child born in the USA will consume 9 times as many of the world's resources as an average child born in sub-Saharan Africa.
While the human population is increasing, the numbers of stars in our galaxy and universe are much greater. Within our own galaxy, the Milky Way, there are one hundred thousand million stars (100,000,000,000). And conveniently, there are about one hundred thousand million galaxies (100,000,000,000) in the universe as a whole! That makes a lot of stars!
And yet the Bible teaches us that the Lord God Almighty not only is the Creator of all we see, but that He knows the names of all!
The Prophet Isaiah, in a delightful passage that teaches so much about the nature of God, has a wonderful imaginative comment about God's personal involvement in his creative actions. '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. (Isaiah 40.26)If God knows the stars by name, how wonderful is that!
Jesus, in a much loved passage about the Good Shepherd, teaches that each of His flock are personally known and named. 'The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.' (John 10.2-4) Carrying on with this picture of being intimately known, Jesus then says, '“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.' (John 10.14-16)
In a world where so many feel unimportant and unappreciated by others and perhaps even by God, it is wonderful to know that because of Jesus, we are known and loved by the Lord God Almighty. We are not just a number. We have a name! That is very good news to share with all we meet today.
Best wishes,
Richard