Jan. 9, 2011
Background Scripture: Isaiah 45
Devotional Reading: Exodus 15:11-18

Watching “The Universe” series on our PBS channel has been a mind-blowing, faith-expanding experience. I cannot ever again look into the night sky without being reminded that J.B. Phillips spoke to most of us in his book, Your God Is Too Small.

That is because my concept of the universe has been far too small. As Joseph Joubert put it, “Space is the stature of God” – the greater the universe, the greater our God.

Our world has mushroomed since the human race first appeared. It started with the habitat of the earliest humans.

Their world was as limited as their first experiences of the divine. In ancient times the world was seen as considerably larger, although it was a flat world with a dome of sky above.

As time crept on, the flat Earth became a sphere and was seen as the center of a world with sun, moon and stars serving as satellites. Our understanding made a grudging, gigantic step forward when, at last, it was realized that our Earth is not alone, but part of a system that revolves around our sun – thus, a solar system.

Medieval astronomers saw dimly a galaxy of stars beyond and in time, we acknowledged that our Earth and its solar system are one of many and that we are part of, not just spectators, of the gigantic galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Today, our world enlarges at a dizzying speed as we understand that there are probably billions of galaxies in the cosmos, many of them dwarfing our Milk Way.

Blind chance?

Some who watched “The Universe” might very well have come to a different conclusion: That there is no room or need for a God in such a vast expanse. But that means the cosmos and our life on Earth are at best gigantic accidents, that we are here by chance, not design.

Thus, as difficult as belief in a Creator-Sustainer-Redeemer God may be, an accidental cosmos is to me impossible, irrational and terrifying.

Gazing into the night sky, pioneering American aviator and polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd was convinced that its rhythm “was too orderly, too harmonious, too perfect to be the product of blind chance – that, therefore, there must be purpose in the whole and that man was part of that whole and not an accidental offshoot.”

Scientist James Jeans put it differently, but still similarly: “The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality. Mind no longer appears as an accidental intruder into the realm of matter. The universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.” Behind that “great thought” I see God, the Great Thinker.

So, what does all that have to do with the prophet Isaiah? I believe the explosion of our concept of the ultra-vast cosmos can help us to understand how mind-blowing Isaiah’s message was in the sixth-century world. He presents Yahweh not as the tribal God of ancient Hebrew history, but as the Lord of the whole world.

His message of one God and Lord of the whole Earth was mind-blowing to those who heard or read it: “For I am God, and there is no other” (45:22). Even today we have difficulty in seeing “our God” as Lord of the whole human race, let alone a seemingly infinite cosmos.

A Cyrus in 2011?

So, Isaiah’s warning is not to Israel alone: “Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in travail’?”

Equally shocking was Isaiah’s message that God is Lord even of those who do not recognize Him as their God. Even Cyrus, the Persian conqueror who probably never ever heard of Yahweh, is, without his knowing, God’s “anointed” servant.

Nor is Cyrus alone the unknowing servant of God. It is not necessary that Cyrus recognize God, so long as God knows Cyrus: “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me” (45:4).

So, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (45:23). Who might that include today?

An astronomer was asked how he could believe in a God and replied: “I keep enlarging my idea of God.” So must we all.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.