(For a PDF file of this poem, see the very end)
A hundred billion galaxies times
A hundred billion stars,[i]
Each with the power of our sun
To shine their light afar.
The splendor of the nebulae,
Their beauty so extreme,
And distances between all these
Which man could never dream.
Yet it’s not the telescopic view,
The things you’ve put in space,
That make me most in awe of You
Or cause my heart to race.
Nor is it through the microscope,
A realm too small to see
How marvelously intricate
Your mighty hand can be.
The complexity of a city in
A single human cell, [ii]
A library of information
Our DNA to tell.[iii]
One hundred trillion neuron
Connections in the brain [iv]
And all of this too wonderful
For mankind to explain.
Nor is it that creation came by
The power of Your will, [v]
Or that by Your omnipotence,
It all continues still. [vi]
Nor is it that you’re sovereign,[vii]
Or things that You have done,
Like raise the dead,[viii] flood the earth,[ix]
Reverse[x] and stop[xi] the sun.
While this is far beyond us,
Bewildering, it’s true,
This is not the greatest reason
I stand in awe of You.
Nor is it that You’ve formed us
With senses to employ,
And graciously produced our world
With so much to enjoy.
The music of a song-bird,
The laughter of a child,
The beauty and the fragrance
Of flowers growing wild,
The taste of fruit in Summer,
The embrace of a friend,
The radiance of a sunset,
A soft and gentle wind.
Oh yes, these are such blessings, but
There not the reason why
I’m utterly in awe of You
And lift my praise on high.
No, my greatest call to worship
–It takes my breath away–
Is the depth of Your love for us,
The price You came to pay.
Our Omnipotent Creator,
Eternal God and King,
You stepped into Your creation, so
Forgiveness, You could bring.
You’re holy, pure and perfect and
You’re absolutely just,[xii]
So punish all unrighteousness,
You absolutely must,[xiii]
But because of Your great love for us,
You had an awesome plan, [xiv]
You came to take our punishment,
The substitute for man. [xv]
You entered through the virgin’s womb
To die upon the cross,
To offer us forgiveness, so
We wouldn’t suffer loss
By missing out on Heaven, all
Eternity to dwell [xvi]
And end up instead, in the
Eternal fires of Hell. [xvii]
And all we have to do is
Accept You as our Lord, [xviii]
Receive the mercy of the cross,
And forever be adored.
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Wickipedia / Universe / Size, age, contents, structure, and laws
[ii] The complexity of a city in a single human cell
GraceCentered.com / Grace Centered Magazine / “Is God Real” by Dr. Bobby Harrington / The Complexity of Human Cells Require A Designer (God).
[iii] A library of information, our DNA to tell
Wikipedia / Genome / Overview
An analogy to the human genome stored on DNA is that of instructions stored in a book: The book contains over 3.2 billion letters total; The book fits into a cell nucleus the size of a pinpoint;
Wiki.answers.com
There are 3,536,489 letters in the bible. (In addition, there are 773,693 words, and 31,209 verses in the bible. there are 1,189 chapters, 66 books, …)
Calculation
3.2 billion letters / 3,536,489 letters = 904.85. = The DNA in a human cell contains an amount of information equivalent to 905 books – the size of the Bible.
[iv] One hundred trillion neuron connections in the brain
Wickipedia / Chemical Synapse
[v] Genesis 1:14-15 = And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.
[vi] Colossians 1:17 = He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
[vii] Acts 17:26 = From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
[viii] John 11:43 = When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
[ix] Genesis 7:20-21 = The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished–birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.
[x] 2 Kings 20:11 = Then the prophet Isaiah called upon the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
[xi] Josea 10:13 = So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies,
[xii] Deuteronomy 32:4 = He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
[xiii] Romans 6:23 = For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[xiv] John 3:16 = For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
[xv] 1 Peter 3:18 = For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
[xvi] Revelation 21:10-16 = And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
[xvii] Matthew 25:41 =Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
[xviii] 19 Acts 3:19 = Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
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See our video “Why I Stand in Awe” on YouTube and on GodTube.