A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers   

Psalm 91:7, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” Have you ever wondered whether a giant asteroid might hit our planet, like the one that scientists suggest may have wiped out the dinosaurs on earth? There are times television programs air portraying such events; and it seems to me for the sake of artistic license the producers’ perspective is one that engenders fear rather than focus on reality—that such an event is highly unlikely. The planet Jupiter “is our first line of defense” says Allan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington: “It is something like 99.9 percent efficient at throwing dangerous space junk, asteroids, and meteorites back out to interstellar space.” How does that happen? Jupiter is 318 times heavier than earth. Because of its mass, Jupiter creates a huge gravitational field that acts as a giant cosmic vacuum cleaner, drawing the “junk” that floats into the gravitational field toward it and away from other planets. Jupiter displayed its protective power several years ago when a monster comet broke into fragments and bombarded the planet Jupiter with more destructive power than all the atomic bombs on earth. Not all space particles get deflected by Jupiter, but living in Jupiter’s gravitational field minimizes the destructive forces that enter the earth’s atmosphere. Considering Jupiter’s protective role, the ancient Romans unknowingly named the mighty planet well. In Old Latin, Jupiter means “Sky-Father.” Notice our Scripture lesson today. David, in Psalm 91 extols the protective virtue of our “Sky-Father,”—our Heavenly Father. Everyday, we are susceptible to being bombarded with the debris of life—both figuratively and literally. But we are protected. Just as we on earth will never know the threats from which Jupiter protects the earth, we will never know the times our Heavenly Father has protected us and deflected the “junk” that would have been our demise. Thus, as we live under the protective canopy of His sovereign power, times of reluctance and fear can be transformed into the perfect peace our Heavenly Father brings with each new day.

Source: Earth’s Big Brother, St. Paul Pioneer Press