The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, their words to all the world. Psalm 19:1
Hannah Jo met God on a frozen, starry night. No human words were needed.
The Bible tells that “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, their words to all the world” (Psalm 19:1).
As a young child in North Korea, Hannah Jo remembers her grandmother sitting under the moon with a bowl of water, praying. She thought her grandmother was praying to a moon god.
Hannah tells the story:
“Later, when my mother, sister and I had escaped from North Korea to China, my sister and I would have to play together using only our imaginations. As North Korean defectors, we could not go to school, and no one would have anything to do with us. One winter evening we were laying down on the ice, looking up at the incredibly beautiful night sky. We said, “Maybe there is a star god. No, we reasoned, there must be something greater—a Sky God– and we used the Korean word, Hananim, for a great ruler.
One day two Chinese/Korean missionaries came to my mother and told her that we girls should come to live with them to learn and have food. So, we separated from my mother. When we arrived at the missionaries’ home, we found their families gathered in the home, praying for us. They were praying to Hananim, using the same Korean word that we had made up for our Sky God!
God had revealed Himself to us in the heavens and in the missionary’s home, we came to know Him and the Bible.”[1]
Hananim is still speaking.
[1] Hannah Jo, Personal interview. 26 June 2024.
