NASA announced that after 36 years (!) the spacecraft Voyager has left our solar system and entered interstellar space. It is now 12 billion (!) miles from the sun. Isn’t that incredible? Our universe so so vast and mysterious—a good metaphor for God. Here we are, attempting to plumb its secrets, yearning to know more about it. I recall that a teacher once asked, “What’s at the end of the universe?” Now that is a mind-boggling question. We usually don’t think about space and what it contains until we venture out to view a meteor shower or a harvest moon like the one last week. Or until an asteroid is approaching for a close encounter! Usually we are like fish in a bowl, who are busy swimming in circles in their own little world, oblivious to the immense world around them.
Viewing the photo of our “blue gem” of earth from space brought home to us how tiny we are, not only in the solar system and the Milky Way galaxy, but in a universe sparkling with untold numbers of such galaxies. No wonder the psalmist composed Psalm 8 (called the astronomer’s psalm). In it we pray, “When I see your heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and stars that you set in place—What are human beings that you keep them in mind and care for them?”
Sometime soon you might pause and take a break from your usual round of activities. Go into your inner space and reflect on outer space and all its wonders. Ponder the greatness and goodness of the Creator. Go out one cloudless night and gaze at the star-spangled sky, or locate some spectacular shots of the universe on the Internet. Then sing with all your heart the hymn “How Great Thou Art” and tell God “Thy power throughout the universe [is] displayed.”