When poet, lecturer, and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson was asked what people would do if the stars came out only once every thousand years, he replied, “If the stars should appear but one night every thousand years, how man would marvel and stare.”

Building on Emerson’s response, author Paul Hawkins, in a commencement speech to the Portland University Class of 2009, said, “If the stars only came out once every thousand years, no one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. “Instead,” Hawkins lamented, “the stars come out every night and we watch television.”

Ever since God created the stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:16), the brilliant lights haven’t ceased to shine. We, however, too often neglect to “stop and consider” these and other miracles of God’s creation (Job 37:14).

As we grow older, we tend to resemble Mark Twain’s fictional character Tom Sawyer, who remembered stargazing as an important part of his past but not his present. “We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars,” Twain wrote, “and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened.”

King David argued that an upward gaze is important regardless of our years or stage in life. For “the heavens,” David said, “proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world” (Psalm 19:1-4).

Don’t wait 1,000 years to be dazzled by God. Instead, look into tonight’s evening sky and see what He has done!

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Luke 8:22-56