“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Psalms 103:11-12
David was a shepherd before he became a king. During his days as a shepherd, he had to lead his flock searching for green pasture. Some places that he led them to were really far from where they lived, so he had to stay overnight there. While in the open space during night time, he probably laid down on the grass, and when he looked up into the sky would have seen all the little stars twinkling; during day break he could see the sun rising and setting during the evening.
David was amazed how beautiful the physical world is, but his imagination went deeper than that. He realized the world is God’s creation, which reflected His glory. The world is a reflection of God’s attribute and our lifetime experience can be enriched by what’s happening in this world. David likened the extent of God’s love to the height between heaven and earth, and the distance between sunrise and sunset.
The nearest planet to earth is moon, which is no less than 450,000 km away while the star nearest to the sun is 40 trillion km. Indeed, it is a distance that we cannot fathom! In perspective, the sunrise-sunset phenomena is caused by the earth rotating round the sun rather than the actual movement of the sun itself. It is hard to imagine if one can measure the distance from one edge of the sky to another edge!
It is important to remind ourselves of the extent of God’s love; He forgives our sin, He provides us with a refuge and is our fortress, and bless us with many gifts even though we are not worthy of them. He loves us while we are still sinners and gives us a chance to be reconciled to Him. The magnitude of His love can never be physically measured. While David used the height between heaven and earth, and the distance from east to west to illustrate the breadth and depth of His love.
As Christians, we experience the full extent of His love at the cross. At the cross, where Jesus was crucified; He willingly took upon Himself our sin so that we can be redeemed from eternal death. We can only understand God’s love for us through His revelation and not by our own human understanding. By faith, we have received the love of God. As we walk closely with Him, let us continue to abide and experience His endless love.