"GoSkyWatch", "SkyMap", or God'Sky

One of the coolest apps for the your iPad, tablet, smartphone, etc., is the one that shows you the constellations when you hold it up to the sky. Apple has one and so does Google. There are actually a ton out there. However, there is something strange to me about them. There is something strange about a person looking up at the beauty of the constellations and the planets, yet not really looking at them, but seeing instead a man-made screen that tells us about the stars. I've even done this on occasion. I "ooo" and "ahhh" at the beauty on my little screen and how cool it is that I can tell which light is a star and which is a planet. Yet, I'm not really looking at the source of the beauty; I'm looking at a picture.

This is the equivalent of being at Niagara Falls and looking at a postcard of the waterfall while your back it turned to it, or looking through a video camera view-screen at your kids playing, but never really watching them. We get so enthralled with the picture that we miss the source the picture points us too. I've even seen people look at their "GoSkyWatch" or "SkyMap" apps while sitting in their living room when they could get off the couch and see the sky in real life outside their back door! Why not check out God'Sky. You don't need a cool app to see it. It's in 3D and is accessible to everyone.

I wonder if the Psalmist ever considered a cool constellation app when he wrote, "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you car for him?" (Psalm 8:3-4) When David looked at the stars, he was struck with their beauty and immediately fell into worship and wonder at the hugeness of God and the smallness of himself. He saw the source of the beauty, God. He didn't get lost in how cool the lights were and the fun shapes they made. He was led to worship.

Don't get me wrong. I think these apps are pretty cool too. It is neat to know where the planets are and where they are going. But, once you've seen their pattern, I encourage you to put down the tablet or phone and just gaze in wonder at what God has made. Creation is amazingly beautiful, especially when we stop to look at the real thing and not just a picture.