I went outside this morning at 3:00 a.m. and billions of stars could be seen like powdered sugar sprinkling a beignet. It was a welcome relief to see after the last couple of weeks of overcast and fog. As in most cases when I look to the heavens at night, I thought of Almighty God. According to scientists they have recently discovered the oldest galaxy ever viewed through the James Webb telescope that is cruising through outer space photographing the cosmos. Simply by focusing the telescope on a patch of space, its cameras recently picked up light from this ancient galaxy that they say left from the origin of the Big Bang 13.5 billion years ago. God put in motion the creation of the ever-expanding cosmos billions of years ago and according to scientists, light from this galaxy is just 300-400 million years old, or about 2-3 percent of its estimated current age. Astronomers may even be able to stretch that to see the light from just 100 million years after the Big Bang. They hope to see the first stars in the first galaxies that were formed in the cosmos.
Some don’t believe in the Big Bang theory which is their prerogative. I don’t wish to debate it, but I believe that it might be a good explanation of how God created the universe. “How” and “when” God created it is debatable but the enormity of it is firmly established. Our senses have been dulled by folks throwing around “number words” like billions and when talking about the national debt, trillions. There are no words coined to describe the number of galaxies of which we are aware much less the number of stars like our own sun that are contained within them. It is huge and getting bigger all of the time.
In the past few years numerous scientists, scientific journals, and popular authors have published a slew of articles and books ripping the concept of Intelligent Design. While not specifically denying the theory of evolution, the theory of Intelligent Design postulates that the incomprehensible vastness and complexity of the Cosmos are the result of design on the part of an inconceivably intelligent being.
Many scientists dismiss any concept of an intelligent designer as “unscientific” and claim that any recognition of or belief in such a designer does harm to the scientific method. However, the greatest scientist who ever lived, Albert Einstein, did not share this outlook. His years of studying the universe not only led him to come up with the Theory of Relativity but also led him to believe, in his own words, in a “spirit manifest in the laws of the universe,” in a “God who reveals Himself in the harmony of all that exists”.
He wrote about this at various times in his life; here are a couple of quotations: “The religious inclination lies in the dim consciousness that dwells in humans that all nature, including the humans in it, is in no way an accidental game, but a work of lawfulness that there is a fundamental cause of all existence”
In a 1930 essay entitled “What I Believe” Einstein wrote: “To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness I am a devoutly religious man”.
He also made the following statement in an essay entitled “The Religiousness of Science,” which appeared in a collection of his essays published in English under the title “The World As I See It”:
“The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation. His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an INTELLIGENCE of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire”
I Psalm 19: the psalmist describes the Universe: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day-to-day pours out speech, and night-to-night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world…
Isaiah speaks of our Creator thusly: Isaiah 40:26 – Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.
Recently I have heard from some friends who are very angry with God and they are questioning various things going on in their life. As I have said many times there are no definitive answers in the Bible to many questions such as why bad things happen to the innocent such as very young children and babies. God has revealed that sin is the root cause of all death and disease and that came from Satan. Why they aren’t angry at Satan instead of God is a mystery to me. The bad things in life did not even exist until sin appeared on the scene. God sent His Son to give us another chance to choose to be with Him versus the world by sending His own Son to die for us as a holy acceptable sacrifice for our sins. Is that not sufficient for Him to show us that He loves us and wants the best for us?
As I pondered the sky and cosmos this morning I shuddered slightly as I think of someone angrily shaking their fist at Almighty omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnibenevolent God. His love for us is unconditional; however, we must believe and have faith in Him and His Son. As for me I look to the heavens and its magnificence and can hardly imagine why He bothers. The Bible declares He wants fellowship with us and that we are created in His image. As with the patriarchs of old, I cannot even envision looking at Him and surviving, and yet He has declared He loves me and wants fellowship with me. Yikes!
Psalm 14:1
Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!