An article released this month by the Natural History Museum in the UK, reported scientists have discovered the most distant object ever seen from earth. This possible galaxy is 13.3 billion years away. Additionally, this galaxy may be giving birth to stars at the rate of one hundred stars every year.
I was reading Job about the same
time I read the article and had come to his response to his so called “friends”
in chapter 26. He makes many declarations about God. Among them, “He spreads
out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing . .
.. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. He marks
out the horizon on the face of the waters . . .. The pillars of the heavens
quake, aghast at his rebuke . . . “
And then Job writes, “And these
are but the outer fringe of his works . . . “
I’ve been thinking about “the
outer fringe of his works” in relation to the new space discovery. When I visit
the coastal shore as the tide is receding, small ebbs of water follow the tide
out. These tiny laps of foam are hardly anything compared to the vastness of
the Atlantic Ocean beyond which holds 187 quintillion gallons of water—quintillion with fifteen zeroes after it—a billion billions. Now, that’s a number that boggles the
brain. It is almost incomprehensible. That is the best analogy I can devise
to illustrate this new space discovery compared to the vastness of all God has done and is doing. And yet the analogy breaks down because the ocean still has a limit, and God is limitless.
All that we see and know is only “the
outer fringe.”
When we are confronted with
seemingly irresolvable problems, whether in the world beyond or in our personal
lives, it’s good to reflect on God’s greatness. God and his works are vast and
even more incomprehensible than a number with fifteen zeroes after it. And yet,
he knows, he sees, even to numbering the hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30). In
fact, we are so valuable to him, He calls us His children. “But to all who did
receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of
God . . .” (John 1:12).
In these uncertain times, I find
great comfort in this.
I hope you do, too.
Beverly Varnado is the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. A memoir, Faith in the Fashion District, from Crosslink Publishing is also available as well as her other books, Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees and Home to Currahee. She also has an Etsy Shop, Beverly Varnado Art.
To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.com
Beverly Varnado copyright 2022