Click the link. In this image are 84 million stars, covering a bit less than 1% of the earth’s sky.
As you zoom, remember that each and every star is named and known by God. All exist due to his speech at creation.
The Lord counts the stars and calls them all by name.
Psalm 147:4
This graphic display is awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping – simply overwhelming. Staring at this image, zooming in closer and closer, I’m struck that the creator of this mosaic keeps near to us. Astounding. I cannot understand it, but I’m extremely grateful.
The Lord is close to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon him in truth.
The Captain of the Lord’s Army Appears to Joshua (Ferdinand Bol, 1662)
Joshua, leading the people of Israel, crossed the raging Jordan river and prepared for the conquest of Jericho. Joshua set out to inspect the city’s walls, doubtless brooding over the massive task before him. As he approached the city, Joshua was confronted by a man with a sword, the Commander of the Lord’s Army. Friend or foe? Joshua asked. “Neither,” came the reply, followed by “take off your sandals, you are on holy ground.” Joshua complied and soon afterwards the Lord revealed the plan for taking Jericho (see Joshua 5:13-15).
Joshua stood between two hard places. His people could not turn back across the swollen Jordan river, and they faced an immovable obstacle in the walls of Jericho. Here, in this tight and difficult space, the Lord met Joshua. The Lord stays with us in challenging places, especially if the Lord has led us there.
However, stunning to me is the answer the commander gave to Joshua when asked, “are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither.” This sobered Joshua. God’s commander is not automatically on the side of God’s chosen people? What then does it mean to be chosen by God?
Can it be that God doesn’t take sides?
Note Joshua’s response. When told to remove his sandals since he’s on holy ground, Joshua immediately took off his shoes. God makes a way for those who humble themselves before him. That seems to me the most important aspect of this story.
God works in humility. Outside the walls, Joshua humbly removed his sandals and only then did the Lord reveal the plan to destroy Jericho. Inside the walls, Rahab humbly trusted the Lord, saved the Israeli spies and was then saved from the city’s destruction. She removed her sandals as well. How many others in the city refused to do so? How many could have been saved by humbly turning to the Lord? God loves both sides, he wants no one to perish.
Do you and I need to remove our sandals and acknowledge that we stand on holy ground? Perhaps the Commander of the Lord’s Army is closer than we think, maybe the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds is thinner that we imagine? Even now, the Lord is waiting for me and for you, in true humility, to remove our shoes so that He can begin to work.
The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio (1599-1600)
Jesus saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom house, and said to him, “Follow me”, and Matthew rose and followed Him.
Matthew 9:9
Jesus spears Matthew with a beam of light as he enters the room, brightness flooding a dark place of fraudulently obtained money and collusion. The beacon illumines Matthew’s face as he quizzically points to his chest as if to ask, “You’re calling me? Seriously?”
I’ve been looking all winter at a print of this painting I hung by my desk after experiencing the original in Rome. Standing in the dim light, gazing up at the huge canvas, my heart stirred hearing how Carravaggio’s work motivated my friend Brian, one of Agape’s (Cru) national directors in Italy, to follow the Lord’s call to that country. Many, many people have stood in that same spot and found inspiration in Carravaggio’s representation of Matthew’s calling since it was first hung in the church San Luigi dei Francesi in 1600.
So much to notice. Jesus’s hand pointing to Matthew, just like the hand of God reaching out to Adam in the Sistine Chapel. Jesus’s bare feet, contrasted with the stylish clothes worn by the tax collectors. The young man with his head down, focused on the money in front of him, oblivious to the divine light.
Jesus called Matthew. Matthew was not worthy. None of us would have picked him. Yet Matthew helped found the Christian faith, penned the gospel bearing his name and died as a martyr for his devotion to Jesus.
Jesus called us. We were not worthy. Yet Jesus picked us. That beam of light pierced us at some point, and we pointed to our chests and said, “Who, me?” Let’s ask the Lord for a bit of the courage and faith of Matthew, and build on the legacy of this tax collector and sinner turned evangelist and saint.
Hagar and Ismael in the Wasteland by Luigi Alois Gillarduzzi (1851)
Hagar, pregnant and desperate, despised by her mistress and ignored by the father of her child, fled into the desert. Taking refuge next to a well, an angel materialized and changed her life with a prophecy about her future and the future of her son.
Overwhelmed by this tenderness, She named the well, “Beer Lahai Roi,” or, the “well of the Living One who sees me.” In doing so she gave God a new name, the God who sees me.
Hagar was young, carrying a child, alone, scared. Her mother was not in sight when she was forced by her mistress, and used by her master, in a misguided plan to build a family legacy. The desert beckoned. Hagar had no where else to flee and no family or friends to take her in. No one even knew where she was. Hagar was invisible.
Invisibility. We often feel it. Who knows us? Who sees us? Who cares about our heartache, or our quietly desperate circumstances? When our only option is to run, who’s at the end of our road?
The God who sees me. God, who comforted the pregnant slave girl, sees. God sees the desperate. God sees you and me. What hope. What promise. What attention to detail. What value in every human life. The God who sees me sent his angel for Hagar, and sent his son for us.
Take a deep breath and rest in that truth for a moment. Wherever you are, whatever you’re facing, regardless of your misfortune, the God who sees me is watching over you.
Join me in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2026. If you spend 30 minutes a day on social media, you can read through the Bible in a year. Download the 5 Day Bible Reading Plan, grab your Bible and join in. You’ll be glad you spent this year with the men and women of Scripture.
Seers, Sayers, Schemers & Saints
Stories to encourage you with the leadership experiences of overlooked men and women of the Bible. Their lives will inform your story, and move you to step out and lead.
GO: Following Jesus to the Ends of the Earth
This book contains reflections on the Lordship of Christ, the Great Commission, and a life of adventure and eternal significance. Read this book and you won't be able to sit still!
Links
YouVersion Bible Reading Plan
A Bible reading plan developed from my book GO: Following Jesus to the Ends of the Earth
