I have had a fascination with space for as long as I can remember. Any chance to see a National Geographic article on some new astronomical discovery was a treat. The possibility that in my lifetime ordinary people will have the chance to fly into space makes me a little giddy. As I consider the grandeur and expanse of the universe, I am kept in awe of the God who not only created it, but who also holds it all together. Entire galaxies spin, sets of planets orbit their stars, and incredible arrays of beauty exist that have never been beheld by human eyes. Two recent discoveries remind us of how amazing the Creator is.
First, astronomers very recently discovered a ring of gamma-ray bursts, which are massively powerful bursts of energy produce in a few seconds what our sun would produce in 10 billion years. What is amazing about this discovery is that the ring is about 5 billion light years across (in comparison, the Milky Way Galaxy, where we are located in the universe, is only about 100,000 light years across), making it far and away the largest structure ever observed. Even more amazing is this: it shouldn’t exist, according to our current theories and understanding of the universe. The Daily Mail, a newspaper in Great Britain, had this to say about the discovery: “They suggest astronomers may need to radically revise their theories of the evolution of the cosmos.” (I have a suggestion!) Second, astronomers also discovered something else that shouldn’t exist: a massive void that is significantly less dense with celestial objects than other areas of the universe. Spots like this exist throughout the observed universe, but this particular spot is larger than any other – nearly 1.8 billion light years across. Much like the ring of gamma-ray bursts, this massive area of emptiness also should not exist according to our current understanding of physics, which states at large scales (such as the scale of the universe) matter should be distributed uniformly.
Both of these discoveries are reminders that we do not know nearly as much as we think we do when it comes to our comprehension of how God put the universe together. Every time we think we have Him figured out, we discover yet another anomaly which reveals how much greater He is than our minds can understand. Sadly, though, discoveries like these, which should drive us to praise the Lord all the more for His unsearchableness, are used by those who do not believe to further insist that God had no role in the creation of the universe (indeed, that He does not exist at all!). Rather than ascribing glory to whom it belongs, our sin natures lead us to attempt to steal the glory of the heavens for ourselves through the insistence that we can fully explain all we see. Certainly God has given us the gifts of reason and curiosity, but when they are exercised without a proper understanding of His Word and who He is, we inevitably end up praising the creation rather than the Creator. Is there an area of your life where you are relying on your own understanding rather than His wisdom (Proverbs 3:5)? When this happens, the pieces don’t fit together – just as with the astronomers trying to figure out why their theories don’t work now. Just something to think about…
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