Just one year ago NASA along with help from other countries launched what is called The James Webb Telescope. It took more than ten years to build this massive telescope that was meant to replace the Hubble Telescope, which had been in use since the mid l190’s. The Webb Telescope cost over ten billion dollars to build and is the most delicate and amazing object ever made by man.
Why build something this complex and expensive? It is a part of our search for the edge of space and discovering how this earth and its universe ever came to exist. The curiosity of man will always drive to the borders to seek knowledge.
This telescope is “parked” about one mission mile above the earth. Its massive mirrors and complex instruments are able to reach 13.5 billion light years. A light year is the distance light travels at 750 miles an hour in one year, The objects that are being observed through James Webb started their journey towards earth over 13 billion light years ago.
As I read material regarding this massive machine it makes me ask the question of God, “when and how did you create this and just how big is space? Is there anything else out there? Will the searching of man’s mind ever find God out there in space?
The reason my mind drifts to this subject is because of where we are in time and space in our world today. Time and space are always a part of my endless search to fathom this unsearchable God for whom time and space are part of his nature.
My thoughts drift to the writings of Moses. Listen to what He says; “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place for all generations. Before the mountains were born or before you gave birth to the earth and the world [universe] even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Moses makes three observations that demand our notice. First, he says that God is our dwelling place. He basically says that we all live in God’s big house. Secondly, He says God is eternal; “…from Everlasting to everlasting thou art God….”. The third thing Moses says is that God is the creator; “…before the mountains were brought forth, even before you formed the earth and the worlds, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God”.
I often ask myself the question, “Will man in his search, ever find God? If God created it all, where does He live and where is His throne?”
The Psalm informs me that God is timeless. “A thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night”. If the furthest stars that James Webb can reach are 13.5 billion light years away, that tells me that God did what we now see many years ago. We measure time. We have watches, clocks computers, and many other ways to keep track of time. We know how old we are by measuring the length of years we have been here according to the calendar. It is beyond my ability to measure timelessness.
Solomon brings this into focus in Ecclesiastes 2. He says there is a time for everything; a time to be born, to die, to plant, to harvest, to build, to weep, to dance, to search, to tear apart, to sew, to love, to hate, etc. There is a time for it all. But what is timelessness?
Moses in the Psalm says the same thing in different words “For the days of our lives are seventy years, or if there is strength, eighty years, yet these days are filled with labor and sorrow; for soon life is gone and we fly away. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom”.
In the closing paragraph of Psalm 90, Moses tells us two things. First, we need help in living a fulfilling life. Life, when lived by itself does not go well. Then Moses says, “Into the trouble of our lives, God inserts His goodness.”
Verse 14 says “Surprise us Lord at daybreak. Make up for the bad times with some good times”.[paraphrase] We need God to guide our lives. Life can and will bring pain, but he is asking God to bring some good out of it. Pain can be so useless without a purpose. All of us will experience some degree of pain in the coming years. That pain can be emotional or physical. It is so comforting to know that we do not walk alone down the dark hallway of pain.
I pick up some of the closing verses of this Psalm. “Make us glad in the days of our affliction and all those years in which we have seen evil. Let thy work appear to thy Servants and their majesty to their children. And let the favor of our God rest upon us and do confirm the work of our hands, yes, confirm the work of our hands.”
I would hate to live life alone, without God. Though I know the future will not be a bed of roses, I know that there is an eternal God who watches over me and cares for my life.
There are two specific statements in this Psalm that I carry with me into the new year. The first is, “Teach me to number my days and help me to search for wisdom”. My prayer is, “Father, teach me how to live each day and to learn from it; to learn more about you and to learn more about myself”.
The second statement is, “Let the favor of the Lord be upon us and bless the work of our hands, yes confirm the work of our hands”. My prayer is that I do not want to leave a pile of ashes, but I want to build a better life.
I respect science and its search for the beginning of time and creation. Their findings help me to discover the greatness and creativity of God.
