"I Lay My Hand on My Mouth"
No doubt you've seen NASA's first full-color release of the James Webb Telescope's findings. I have been completely mesmerized--if not utterly confounded by its images of thousands of stars and galaxies that formed 13 billion years ago. Billion!These "Cosmic Cliffs" above are roughly 7,600 light-years away. What does that even mean? To observe a star 10 light-years away is to see it as it existed 10 years ago, when the light left it's surface.
One writer called the crest a "star nursery" where baby stars are born. A womb for stars!
My mind shifts to God's encounter with Job (a paraphrase):
"No, Lord, I was not there when You laid the foundations of the earth; I have no understanding. You laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy. You shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb" (Job 38: 4; 6-8).
I join Job in saying, "I am of small account; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand on my mouth” (Job 40:4).
And then to John 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
And then to parts of Psalm 19
A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
What rises in you as you consider these new findings?
JUDY