The Expanse of God’s Great Love
The first images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are absolutely amazing. These images are some of the farthest that humanity has ever seen into the universe’s time and distance. The Webb Telescope is one million miles from earth and will peer back into the earliest days of the universe. Our solar system (the sun and everything bound to it by gravity) is part of the Milky Way Galaxy. A galaxy is a collection of gases, dust, billions of stars and their solar systems, held together also by gravity. The Milky Way is just one of billions of galaxies in the universe. And the Universe is all of space, matter, energy, time, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. It is the totality of all that exists, the entire cosmos.
The equatorial circumference of the Earth is about 25,000 miles and each of us are just a tiny speck on the Earth’s surface. And this planet that we all call home is an even tinier speck in the expanse of God’s created universe. The totality of the universe is unfathomable to our minds, at least to my mind.
I am aware that there are numerous beliefs and opinions regarding the age and origin of the universe. It is my belief that God created all that is out of nothing. It is my belief not only that God created all that is, but that He also upholds and governs all that exists; the heavenly places, the angelic hosts, the universe, the earth, human beings, and every living thing. God is not an absent creator but rather He is an active creator, one who still actively cares for his creation.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that “he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” In Colossians, these words about the preeminence of Jesus – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (1:15-17). And we find this is Hebrews 11:3 – “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”
Just as it is hard to fathom how expansive the universe is, it is also hard to get our arms around why a God so big and powerful, able to create all that is and will be, would care for you and me. King David apparently had that same question. Here is what he wondered – “When I look at 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, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4). God intimately knows every human being. He knit us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). He knows and numbers every hair on our head (Luke 12:7).
As the universe we are able to see grows bigger and bigger, making us, or at least me, feel smaller and smaller, God’s love, care, and compassion for us is far greater than the farthest that any telescope can see into the expanse of outer space. The true essence of God’s character is love, love that is unrivaled, love that never ceases. The expanse of God’s great love is endless. Let me end with Psalm 136:26 – “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Do you believe that today?
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