”Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits...Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Who healeth all thy diseases.  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.  Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.  Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s…”

Now what better thing could you ponder just before sleep than these wonderful attributes of God?  I wondered if my daughter was being as blessed by this as I was.  Perhaps not, but I was so happy to let her know just who this God is we serve:

The Lord is merciful and gracious…

Slow to anger…

Plenteous in mercy…

As we came to verse 11 of this beautiful Psalm, we were about to learn just how merciful He is as I read the following words:

“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him…”

I stopped.  Somehow I just couldn’t get past that verse.  As the heaven is high above the earth…

I asked my daughter if she knew what was being said in this verse.  She didn’t.

“Aren’t the sky and God’s mercy two completely different things?” she asked.  “I don’t get it.”

Of course, the ‘heaven’ referred to in this verse is the sky (not the Heaven where God’s throne is – see Genesis chapter 1). 

Sometimes I’m amazed at what kids do get and what they don’t.  They can remember all the characters, geography, and plots in some elaborate novel or movie they’ve seen, but sometimes struggle with the most basic theological concepts.  Hollywood has mastered the art of capturing kids’ attention, I guess.  However, some of the problem comes from hearing spiritual terms frequently – especially if kids are raised in church.  They become a little numb as spiritual terms run together week after week, I think.  Perhaps they develop a habit sometimes of recognizing familiar terms, but not really having a desire to probe deep enough to understand…we adults do that sometimes as well, I’m afraid.

I don’t know how many times I’ve asked my kids a question from some passage I’ve just read from the Bible and then - looking almost startled out of slumber - they fire off the pat answers, “God!” or “Jesus!”  Nice try, kids.

I never let them off that easy.

My daughter is 11 and has had some science, so, I thought I would help her with that “deer in the headlights look” I was getting at present.

Borrowing from some mentally-stored knowledge of the universe from my studies in Creation Science, I grabbed a sheet of paper and began…

“Look at this sheet of paper. Pretty thin, right? Now, imagine that that thickness equals 93 million miles which is the distance from the earth to the sun. Remember, not the length or width, but merely the thickness of the paper, 93 million miles…”

I pretended not to notice the, “uh-oh, hear-comes-another-lecture” look  that had quickly replaced the “I-don’t-get-it-look”…

I pretended not to notice and went on…”Okay, how many sheets of paper (stacked on top of one another) would it take to equal the distance to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri?”

She looked puzzled as to where we were going, but at least seemed to be paying attention…

Not really expecting a response, I said, “To equal the distance to the nearest star, it would take a stack of paper 70 feet high – a seven story building!”

Hmm.  She perked up a little…

“Now, our solar system resides within the galaxy known as the Milky Way galaxy…”

I know what you’re thinking, but, hey...she’s had some science!  Besides, we’ve been to the planetarium at the Creation Museum…

“Let's say we just wanted to get out of our own “backyard” so to speak – out of our own galaxy. How many sheets of paper would it take to represent the distance to the edge of the Milky Way galaxy? (Remember, each sheet represents 93 million miles)…”
 

“You would have to have a stack of paper 310 miles high to equal that distance.

By now, she was in total amazement at how huge our universe really is.

“Finally, let's say we wanted to get to the edge of the known universe (and who knows how far it goes beyond that?) - as far as we can see with our most powerful telescope. How many sheets of paper would it take to equal that distance?

It would take a stack of paper 31 million miles high!”

I knew she couldn’t fathom such distances – no adult can.  We sat in amazement together.  The heavens are indeed “high above the earth.”

I said to my daughter, “So…returning to Psalm 103:11…based on what I’ve just told you, how high are the heavens above the earth?”

With a sudden look of revelation she said, “You can’t even calculate it!  You can’t even reach the limit of it or imagine it!!”

“Behold the mercy of God”, I said.  She got it. 

One of the most astounding messages of Scripture is that no matter what you’ve done, how long, how often, or to whom – you can never “out sin” God’s mercy.  If you think you’ve reached the end of God’s mercy, just go outside and look up…gives me the “willies” just thinking about it.

Corrie Ten Boom said it best, “There is no pit that is so deep, that God is not deeper still.”  Amen to that...I’ve been in a few pits.  God has been right there through them all to lead me right back out again – Praise His Name!

I shared the same verses from Psalm 103 and my brief science lesson with my son as well.  He, being 15, “got it” much sooner, of course, but we still had fun contemplating the “height of the heavens” and the depth of God’s love.

I tell you now, there is no greater joy as a Dad than seeing your children’s eyes light up and their faces beam with the understanding that if you go outside and try to find the “end” of the sky, then you will have found the “end” of God’s love and mercy.

Better than any bedtime fairy tale, that’s God’s Word at work...no...that’s the Anvil in action! 

Put it in action in your life and in your kids’ lives and see what happens.

I dare you.