The Immense Universe

Colossians 1: 15, 16 (NIV): 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

    The universe is apparently immense. We are in orbit around an average-sized sun, in the disk of a large galaxy. Our galaxy may have a billion stars, and there may be a billion galaxies in the universe. The earth is a dot in our solar system, a speck compared to our galaxy, and a microscopic speck in the whole universe. (This is not to mention that that are seven billion people now on this one little planet.)

    The earth is orbiting in a habitable zone which, along with several other factors, makes us extremely privileged. Almost everywhere else in the universe is hostile to life, either extremely hot or cold. And the sheer size of the universe boggles the mind. Distances are simply incomprehensible. 

    Why did God create the universe so big? I'll be honest, this has been troubling me. Why would God create such an immense universe just to put stars in our sky? And we are just now discovering how huge the universe is. The Hubble Telescope is revealing galaxy clusters we never would have imagined. 

    But it occurs to me that the size of the universe is a reminder of how long eternity is. What our size is to the universe is akin to what our time on earth is compared to eternity. I often snap my fingers and say that is how long our life on earth is compared to eternity. In the same way, our whole earth is tiny compared to all of God's creation. God is a big God. The universe is immense. And eternity is a very long time.
    After reading this column, my brother, Kevin, pointed out that astrophysicists say the universe has to be the size it is or it wouldn't work. If it were larger or smaller (keeping in mind that it is expanding) the stars could not have formed.  Everything about the earth and the universe has to be just right for life to exist and everything IS just right. Amazing.