7 Nov 2022
“When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3-4)
The psalm exults that human beings are part of God’s creation and thus are named and loved by the God from whom all things come. Our lives are touched by transcendence, in that God chooses to relate to those whom He created.
I find this truth clearly and vividly demonstrated in the sharings of a Christian scientist:
“I recall looking at the night sky in winter in the late 1960s and seeing the Belt of Orion – three bright stars in the constellation of Orion. I was an atheist back in those days, with no interest in God, but already knowing a deep sense of awe at the wonder of nature. I knew enough about astronomy to know that light took hundreds of years to travel to earth from those stars. To look at those stars was, in effect, to travel back in time. I was seeing them as they were, not as they are. I found the thought deeply troubling. Why? Because by the time the light now leaving those stars reached earth, I would be dead. Those stars became for me symbols of my own mortality, chilling silent reminders of the brevity of human life. The universe might be very beautiful, but it also seemed totally pointless. It is a melancholy thought, known to many scientists who have written about their feelings of despair at the futility and utter pointlessness of the world that they are studying.
But what happens if you put on a different set of theoretical spectacles? What if the world is seen through a God lens? …I discovered that the night sky looked rather different when seen from the standpoint of faith. Yes, it was still a symbol of immensity, against which I seemed insignificant. Yet I now realised that I mattered.
One of the world’s most famous photographs was taken in 1990 from the Voyager space probe during its mission to study the outer solar system. Twelve years after the launch, it reached the planet Saturn and sent back images of this great planet. The astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that the probe’s cameras should be realigned to send back an image of earth, as seen from a distance of about six billion kilometres. After much discussion, NASA agreed. Back came the famous image of a ‘pale blue dot’, set against the darkness of space – a ‘lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark’. As Sagan rightly pointed out, this ‘distant image of our tiny world’ set everything in perspective. How small, how insignificant, we are, compared with the vastness of space!
To this day, I keep on looking at that image from Voyage – that minuscule ‘pale blue dot’ which is our cosmic home. I find my thoughts straying to Psalm 8 which seems to anticipate the thoughts and emotions I now experience when looking at that ‘lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark’. (Alistar McGrath)
Notice the similar conclusion that this Christian scientist has with the preacher in Ecclesiastes – all is meaningless or pointless without God in this world. But praise God, he went on to know the God who is the creator of heaven and earth and he realised that he mattered to this great majestic transcendent God! But also ponder over the immensity of the creation and the cosmos and in turn worship with awe the great Almighty who is willing to love insignificant creatures like us. Know also deeply how insignificant we are in the face of God and His greatness – never ever forget this as we come before His presence. It is to HIm all glory and honour belong!