"Telescopic Vision"

For the past 25 years we've been able to see things no human has seen before.  When the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit in 1990, it began transmitting images of stars, planets, galaxies, and other amazing sights.  Our knowledge of the universe has been greatly expanded by this technology.

Our vision is about to be stretched again.  Construction began yesterday on a 22-story telescope on a mountain in Chile, South America.  When completed in a few years, it is projected to increase our range of vision more than 10 times what Hubble can give us.  There is also work underway on a newer space telescope, the Webb Telescope.

When I look at the sky at night, I can see traces of the Milky Way, the galaxy in which we live.  I find it utterly astounding that Hubble has detected at least 100 billion other such galaxies!  Is the universe not astonishing?!  What new discoveries lie ahead?

David had similar thoughts.  He was well acquainted with the night sky from his days as a shepherd.  He wrote of the awe he felt: "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:3,4).

Contemplating the size of the universe seems to naturally lead people to think of their own insignificance.  What is one person in such a vast system?  What are a million, or a billion?  But David was convinced of one fact: God finds us to be significant.  Size is not an issue with him, but the quality of the creature.  And, as David went on to say, "You have crowned [man] with glory and honor.  You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands" (Psalm 8:5,6).

Where did David get ideas like those?  Not from a telescope, but from inspired revelation.  Genesis 1:26 told David, as it tells us, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the [creatures of the earth]."  Using God's revealed word, David could see things otherwise hidden.

Will we ever be able to see the furthest limits of the universe?  Maybe not.  And neither will we ever know the answers to all the questions we might raise.  Deuteronomy 29:29 is a good passage to remember: "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Using the Bible we can discover amazing - and vital! - truths that would otherwise remain a mystery.  May we use this Book often to see our place in the universe, the One who placed us here, and all that He expects and promises!

Timothy D. Hall