Not One of Them is Missing

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

Feeling small and out-of-place? We have a place within our community of relationships. We have influence. What happens when a family member leaves or dies? A void is left. Grieving struggles to find a way to fill the empty place. Their legacy serves as a place holder.

We each hold a place of importance in God’s eyes. He created us for significance and to be needed.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, Psalm 8:3

Consider two “stars” God placed and named to walk this earth. Missionary Jim Elliot, brutally murdered with four other men, in 1956 by Auca Indians in Ecuador, shines brightly to this day through publications. He left behind a young widow and infant daughter. He is remembered for his bold faith and quote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

But what about his brother, Bert, a little known, yet faithful star and fruitful for over sixty years? He and his wife, lived in Peru into their eighties—in obscurity—as missionaries. Other than occasional furloughs Peru was their home. The Elliots planted more than 170 churches! Bert died in 2012.

The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 1 Corinthians 15:41

Most of us won’t be a North Star like Jim. Instead, we are a faint star like Bert as we fulfill God’s purpose in roles as wives, mothers, students, teachers, business people, and service workers. We hold a critical place and are needed in the kingdom of God.

Lord, You’ve named every star and never lose one! How much more valuable we are to You.

Karen Sims