April 6, 2016
The newspaper headline caught my attention: “Hubble telescope spies most distant galaxy.” The claim is to have spotted “the most distant galaxy ever observed.” And then this statement: “The light that left this galaxy that we’re observing now left the galaxy 13.4 billion years ago.”
I have no idea how scientists determine these numbers. I am amused at the thought of determining the beginning of the universe without the concept of Creator God, a connection that this story did not attempt to suggest. But the numbers interest me. While “billions of years ago” is beyond my imagination, it is within my confidence that Creator God has been here longer than that – He has always existed.
The human writer of Psalm 8 did not have the Hubble Space Telescope to view stars and galaxies, but he did have a big perception of Creator God. He declared, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.”
It was in light of this that the writer saw himself: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him.” I do not think he was considering how long ago the universe was created, but rather how amazing is the Creator of the universe.
The more he thought about Creator God, the smaller he felt, which made him wonder why Someone so majestic would give even a thought to humans. The value God places on humans, and the assignments He gives to us, left the writer with only one conclusion: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth!”
Perhaps we need to spend more time meditating on Creator God and less time debating the age of the universe. If we are willing to believe that a telescope can pick up light that started our way 13 billion years ago, we surely should consider what else could be attributed to the One Who started it all. “Billions of years” is a short period of time in light of “eternal.”
Pastor Bill Ehmann