God Talks Through The Skies Series

Today we’re going to look at what C.S. Lewis called “the greatest poem in the Psalter and one the greatest lyrics in the world.”

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. ?2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.?3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.?4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,?5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.?6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (Psalm 19:1-6).

Science has been saying to people of religion for years: “You give me your faith, and I will give you my reason.” A philosopher named David Hume (1711-1776) has been influential through this day that a “god” cannot be inferred from creation: “Examine the religious principles, which have, in fact, prevailed in the world. You will scarcely be persuaded, that they are anything but sick men’s dreams.” This is Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and many of his ideas also continue to be influential in our day. It is Freud who tells us that we believe in God simply because it makes simple people feel better about living in a cold and emotionally dismal universe. It’s true that many people come to faith by chance (as Plato wrote many years ago). Yet faith and reason do coexist. The Bible never tells us to take a leap of faith into the darkness and hope that there is somebody out there. Instead, we are called to jump out of darkness into the light.

My goal this morning and this evening is to connect you with the ministry of God through the Skies and tonight, through the Scripture. Perhaps you can remember the content of Psalm 19 this way: verses 1–6 describe the ministry of God through the Skies… and verses 7–11 describe the ministry of God through the Scriptures. The focus of these six verses is that we look up.

1. The Skies Speak for Those Who Will Listen

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

Each of us is under a divine mandate to become an amateur astronomer. We are commanded to peer into the heavens unto the incalculable depths of the sky and space to behold the handiwork of God. “Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved” (Francis Crick, co-discovers of the DNA molecule). Everything that God has made speaks. And therefore everything that God has made ministers—for those who will listen.

Allow me to show you this from this week’s news. This week NASA released the first photos from the Hubble telescope since a NASA crew spent 13 days repairing it in May, 2009. Astronaut K. Megan McArthur, who flew on the mission to repair Hubble, spoke of the newly released photos and her mission: “I’m in awe of the human ingenuity that could conceive of such a thing and then make it happen.” Another astronaut, Michael J. Massimino, simply said of their repairs, “Thank God we didn’t break it.”

Hubble completes on orbit around the Earth every 96 minutes at a speed of around 5 miles per second. It has captured images of over 12 billion light years away. It’s this last photo (shown on the screens) that I want us to focus on for a few minutes as this photo was featured in news media outlets this past week. Know as the “Butterfly” because it resembles dainty butterfly wings. What you are seeing is actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour – fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 24 minutes. A dying star that was once about five times the mass of the Sun is at the center of this fury. Dave Leckrone: “What I see is the grandeur of creation, however it got there.” As the report indicates, Leckrone suggested that the Hubble images should evoke “spirituality,” and not merely a respect for science. Leckrone may well be speaking honestly about his lack of concern for “how it got there,” but I doubt that is all there is to it.

How can intelligent people consider the grandeur of the cosmos without pondering, “How it got there?” In the end, the “how” question (or better the “who” question) determines the meaning of the cosmos itself. If the universe (and what lies beyond) is merely an accident of physics, the grandeur is simply in the sheer unlikeliness of it all. If, on the other hand, the cosmos is the work of a sovereign and holy Creator, the cosmos is itself a reflection of His character and power… and the theater of His glory.