I remember when I was an adolescent, living on a farm in Ohio, I used to go out in the fields and lay on my back on a hillside and watch the clouds float by. I remember feeling a sense of awe and peace – closeness to the presence of God. Psalm 19 says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” in the NIV. I like the NASB even better which says “their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
An online article from National Geographic caught my eye this past week. Scientists were able to see a “space blob” that was 13 Billion miles away. Actually, it was also 13 Billion years away, in the past. This blows my mind.
When scientists “see” objects in space, not only are they immense distances away through space, they are immense distances away through time because of the time it takes light to travel through space. So when the scientists were observing this sudden flash of light 13 billion miles away – the most distant object in space ever seen through telescopes – they (the astronomers) are also looking 13 billion years back through time.
Click here for the full article:
This object, called Himiko, existed only 600,000 years after the “big bang” of creation, which is not a very long time on a scale of 13 billion years. Scientists believe that someday, they may have telescopes powerful enough to look all the way back to the beginning of creation … 13.6 Billion years ago.
Here is what amazes me … to meditate on the immense infinitude of the God who created this spatial object 13 billion years ago, and who manages and holds all of creation together. Col. 1:17 Says of Christ, who in orthodox theology was present at the creation with the Father and the Spirit (see Genesis 1:1), that “in him all things hold together.”
Quantum physics is studying the minutely small quantums that make up the most infinitismal basis for reality. Astronomers are reaching out to the moment of creation through their telescopes. Science and faith are ultimately in harmony – faith can “see” realities that science cannot yet discover.
Think about this for just a moment: The God that loves me and cares for me, the God that is small enough to be a baby in the manger or to rest comfortably in a virgin’s womb, is also the God that is right now 13 billion miles away managing the area of the universe which, once-upon-a-time, contained Himiko. Not only is he (our God) there right now, but he IS there 13 Billion years ago (human language begins to fail at this point). AND YET, while he is managing powerful universal forces 13 billion years away and in the past, he also finds time to feed the sparrow, number the hairs on my head, comfort me in my daily struggles.
Wow. That is all I can say. It puts all of our temporary light affliction into an amazing perspective. Our minds simply lock up when we try to imagine this kind of infinitely great, all powerful, all present, infinitely loving and infinitely just God. Human language just will not suffice. No wonder he had to take on humanity and come and live among us to give us a human-sized, comprehensible image of himself “in which all the fullness of deity dwells.”
If he can manage a universe that big, and possibly even multiple universes, I don't think I need to worry about swine flu. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his concern, I will not die without his knowledge and permission.
I think I will go out tonight and lie in my backyard and look at the stars. It makes all my problems shrink.
Click here for an NPR webcast on All Things Considered about the phenomenon
