When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers – the moon and the stars you set in place – what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. Psalm 8:3-5 NLT
The April 2026 Artemis II mission was the first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years. It was the first time humans returned to the vicinity of the moon since the end of the Apollo program in December 1972. Artemis II, which splashed down on April 10, 2026, flew four astronauts around the far side of the moon. In an emotional moment during a press conference, the astronauts offered a glimpse of their first experiences after returning to Earth following their historic mission.
After splashdown, the four crew members were taken to a U.S. Navy ship for medical evaluation. Although he doesn’t consider himself a religious person, commander Reid Wiseman requested to see the ship’s chaplain while there. “I’m not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything, so I just asked for the Navy chaplain to come visit us for a minute,” Wiseman shared. “When that man walked in – I’d never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar, and I just broke down in tears.”
I get that, don’t you? Any honestly thinking person who experiences what Commander Wiseman experienced and King David, author of Psalm 8, experienced, is filled with awe. When you truly become aware of what God has created, His incomparable power and greatness, you become aware of just how small you are. When looking at the night sky, we see "the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you set in place.” True awe begins when we realize that the One who holds galaxies together also intimately knows us, pays attention to us, wants a relationship with us. We are significant to Him. What an overwhelming realization!
The hymn “Joy to the World” explodes with the joyful realization of Almighty God’s treatment of humble humanity: “He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love – the wonders, the wonders of His love!” It’s amazing – the God who can do anything and everything loves and cares about us most of all.
- Almighty God, though You are the God vast beyond my imagination, I am in awe that I am significant to You and loved by You. May my awe lead me to live my life in honor of You.