Star of Bethlehem (Guest Post by Susan Chamberlain Shipe)

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.  God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth…Genesis 1.16c-17

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40.26

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Psalm 147.4

Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Psalm 148.3

Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Isaiah 60.3

…and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2.2

Oh my goodness – don’t these scriptures make you want to jump up and down and say, “Thank You God of Creation – thank You for choosing me to be a receiver of Your great salvation! Thank You for knowing my name and knowing the number of hairs on my head. Thank You awesome Lord for everything!”

My sister loves the night sky. If you want to know when the full moon will crest the horizon, just ask her – she will know. Now that she lives in South Florida, she loves driving to the beach on full moon nights – it brings her great joy. My hubs loves the stars and names the constellations in our night sky. Here, where we live, the cloudless sky is ablaze with stars – there are no city lights to fade their brightness and to stand outside and look up is a wonder. The other night we were walking from the car to the door and I was admiring the clear, starlit sky when off in the distance a star fell. I will take great liberty here and say I firmly believe that God knows every single time one burns up and falls! If He knows the names of each one why wouldn’t He know when one no longer shines?

Men have studied the stars as long as time has been in existence. The moon has great pull and power over our environment and the Lord God gave it not only for light but for the signs and the seasons (Genesis 14.1). Our neighbors are farmers and they use the moon to determine when to plant certain crops – I think that is the seasonal use God intended when He hung it in the vast space.

Astronomy and Astrology are two totally different studies.

astrology: the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects. (Merriam-Webster)

astronomy: the scientific study of stars, planets, and other objects in outer space. (Merriam-Webster)

God implicitly warns against the worship of stars (Deuteronomy 4.19). Do you think putting credence in one’s astrological sign and following one’s horoscope falls under worship? I do, IF you are allowing it to influence your life. Years ago I got very caught up in the different signs of the horoscope, etc., the Lord dealt sharply with me about that. Now, when someone asks me ‘my sign’, I tell them the cross because I am a child of the Most High God!

Astronomy is a whole different thing – it is a science, studying God’s Creation!

It has been said that the Magi, from the east, were astronomers in search of the star. But, was it a star they looked for?  In Matthew 2.2, the Greek word for star is aster, which means light strewn over the sky! Star in Genesis 1 is the Hebrew word kowkab, which means round or blazing light such as a “star”.

The one thing we know is this, there was a bright light shining in the sky over Bethlehem, whether it was a star or a strewn light in the heavenlies – it was there!

Tonight, go outside and gaze up at the stars and imagine this: on the night that Jesus Christ was born the sky was ablaze with celestial light and when the Christ child breathed his first earth breath, and cried His first newborn cry, there ensued a party in heaven, and,

…the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy… Job 38.7

Can you hear the music?

Messiah is so very near.

We await You.

This Advent season select one clear night, perhaps the night of the full moon and go outside and just imagine…

***On December 21st, 2020, the Christmas Star is going to show up and show off in the low southwestern horizon, right after sunset. Saturn and Jupiter will converge on this date to make the “Christmas Star.” 

****This devotion is from the book by Susan Chamberlain Shipe, The 31 Days of Christmas, available on Amazon.

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Susan Chamberlain Shipe, a writer since the age of eight when she and her
neighborhood friend wrote, edited, published, and distributed The Manor News.
Things have changed since publishing with the five and dime stamp lettering set!
Today, Susan enjoys blogging, writing short devotions and short stories from the
tiny house in Upstate South Carolina, which she shares with her husband of thirty
plus years, Lowell. Susan can be found musing several times a week at
hopehearthome.com