Pluto And Psalm 145
In the summer of 2015, NASA presented us with the news that we’ve reached the outer edge of our solar system with the recent flyby of Pluto by the New Horizon’s spacecraft. After traveling for nearly 10 years, covering over 3 billion miles, we are receiving amazing images from this small craft.
It has hard to understand how far a journey this little vessel has been on, but if we reduced the solar system to a scale we can understand we may be able to better appreciate this monumental trip. If the sun was the size of a basketball, the Earth would be the size of a quilting head pin about 31 yards away. Pluto however, would be less than the size of a grain of sand placed about ¾ of a mile away from our basketball-sized sun.
Our solar system seems to be a very big place. Or is it?
Depending on where you turn to research the question (or should I say “when” because their answers change quite often), the current consensus is that our universe is 92 billion light years in diameter. If light travels 5.8 trillion miles in a year and it takes 92 billion of those to span our universe, then…, well the number is staggering. Our solar system, as big as we think it is, is just a very tiny speck on a very small dot in a vast ocean of dots.
When I think of the size of the universe, I am reminded of Psalm 145:3.
“Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; And His greatness in unsearchable”. – Psalm 145:3 NKJV
The word “unsearchable” as used in the NKJV, ESV and HCSB is an attempt to translate two Hebrew words. We have a hard time putting the Hebrew into English in this case but the general idea is that He is beyond our ability to fully grasp. Bottom line, He is a big God. And yet, He finds value in us, each of us.
Check out Psalm 139:17 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God. How great the sum of them!” Psalm 137:17 NJKV
Jesus said in Matthew 6 verse 26 that we are to look at the birds and see how they are taken care of by the Father. Then He says we have more value than the birds. In Luke 12 He stated that “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” God is the creator and ruler over this vast universe but He is personal and He knows us, loves us and values us. I find this so comforting. God is huge. Big enough to handle any problem we encounter and at the same time close enough to find pleasure in our existence because He knows us very well.
Take comfort in knowing that God does love you, He knows you and has everything from Pluto’s orbit to your life under His control. This is true when you feel it and when you don’t. Nothing surprises Him and because He has these precious thoughts about you, you can trust yourself to His care.
Blessings my friend,
Jeff Millslagle