Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship – and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. Acts 17:22-23.

Last night on PBS we watched Nova, The Planets. With satellite imagery streaming back to us we could see Jupiter and its moons and even the distant sun so far away. As the satellite was running out of fuel, it was commanded to crash into Jupiter. It took 5 years just to reach Jupiter. That was 4 years ago. The intelligence and design required for such a feat surely highlights the intelligence and design that created and sustains everything.

And in this chapter, 2 Kings 17, Israel is defeated by Assyria and led away from their homes; others are brought in. Imagine, a whole nation defeated and uprooted. Why? Because of their idolatry. They worshipped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced….and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. v. 7-8. 14.

What’s curious is that when the new people were brought in, they did not worship the Lord; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. It was reported to the king of Assyria: “The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.” v. 25-26. So the king of Assyria ordered one of the captive priests of the Israelites go back to teach them what the god of the land requires. v. 27. They added that to their list of gods they worshiped. In v. 16 it said Israel worshipped “the starry host” just like the Canaanites did. Imagine if they could have understood God who created “the starry host”.

Centuries later Paul tells the Athenians about this “unknown god” they were afraid in their ignorance not to acknowledge. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. Acts 17:24-25.

Do we know how to worship God? The people living in the times we have read about and those of us living today probably think they do. Can we trust God Himself to teach us? Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3.

Jesus, God with us in human form, was asked by an expert in the law what was the greatest commandment. His answer? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22:37-40.

We live in a broken, imperfect world of men. Imagine if everyone started living the truth Jesus showed that expert in the law. How different would this world be? That is what God asks of us. How can He ask that? Because He knows. He is Love so He knows what love does in and for us. Can we trust Him? How can we not? Do we have enough history of what hate accomplishes? Do we personally have enough experience of love to know how healing that is? Imagine the Love of God healing us with His love! Can we trust Him? Always. Can we trust Him to guide us even when the world does not choose love? That, my friends, is the question we each of us need to address in our own hearts and minds. No one can do that for us. If we look back on our lives, can we see the moments when we questioned what it all means; when our hearts hungered for love that was different and real that no human being could fill. Almighty God…Father, Son, Spirit…show us what real Love is by loving. God is Love and He loves you and me and knows how blessed we are when we love Him and one another.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11. Jesus, God, lived among us and lives with us still. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 1 John 4:13. Look at the amazing, shatteringly beautiful starry host, look at creation in all of its rich variety and beauty, look at each other and how beautifully we are made, and remember Who created it all. He loves us well.