Look to the Heavens
After spending the weekend at the beach, looking at the heavens in the vast sky, and looking to the infinite sands of the beach, and knowing out to sea there was a tremendous force of nature (Hurricane Bill) not too far away, reminded me of God and infinity…
The Bible tells us to “look to the heavens” if we want to get an idea of what God is like…David wrote in Psalm 19, “The heavens alone declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
In Isaiah, “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens.” Isaiah goes on to say that God knows all of heaven’s stars by name!
Why does God tell us to compare him with the heavens? Because God has no limits, and from our perspective neither does the heavens. God is the unlimited limiter-the uncreated Creator-of all things. He’s the self-existing, infinite Being who created this vast and beautiful universe out of nothing and who holds it all together today.
Any human journey into space will penetrate only a tiny fraction of it. There are 100 billion stars in our galaxy and the average distance between those stars is 30 trillion miles.
How far are 30 trillion miles? Let’s put it this way: when the space shuttle is in orbit, it travels at about 17,000 miles an hour-almost 5 miles per second. If you could get in the Space Shuttle and speed through space at nearly five miles per second, it would take you 201,450 years to travel 30 trillion miles! In other words, if you and gotten into the Space Shuttle at the time of Christ and begun traveling from our sun toward another star an average distance away, you would be only one-hundredth of the way there right now. Incredible.
Now keep in mind that’s just between two of the 100 billion stars in our galaxy. How many stars are there in the entire universe? The number of stars in the universe is about equal to the number of sand grains on all the beaches on all the earth. And at five miles per second, it will take you over 200,000 years to go from one grain of sand to another!
Infinity is what describes each of God’s attributes including his power, knowledge, justice, and love. This is why the Bible uses the heavens to help us grasp the infinite height of God’s love. Psalm 103:11 says, “For as height as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who revere him.” How high are the heavens above the earth? When you consider that there are 30 trillion miles between stars as numerous as grains of beach sand, you might as well say, “the heavens are infinitely high.” Indeed, that is the height of God’s love.
Some of the above is from I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
