Many of the beautiful NASA heritage pictures
from deep space, such as this one of
The Keyhole Nebula,
could be used to illustrate this
reimagining of Job 38.
The glorious ‘ Creation’ passage of Job 38. v4ff was written with the Bible-times knowledge of the Cosmos. This reimagining tries to express how it might have been written with today’s insights into deep space and the cosmos. (I am indebted to Prof Tom McLeish of Durham University for bringing the Job passage to attention in a recent public lecture in Cambridge, UK and thereby sparking this idea. This passage is also explored in his book ‘Faith and Wisdom in Science')
Re-imagining Job 38. 4ff
Where were you when I gave birth to the
universe; when my Wisdom called forth particles from the womb of the cosmic
void and seeded them into the realm of existence?
Who marked off its dimensions and form and
let matter prevail over anti-matter?
On what were its footings set or who
provoked its mighty expansion in the blinking of an eye?
How deeply do you comprehend the gift of
light or fully understand the mysteries of its nature?
Who of you knows from where the sounds that
fill the cosmos emanated or how music distilled its harmonies from the roaring
cadences of creation?
Who gave water its extraordinary
properties, decreed its many forms and accorded rôles to each that it might adhere to the surfaces of gathering
spheres, to nurture and give shape to barren terrains?
Can you make sense of the patterns of
constellations as they would be seen from planets in the extreme reaches of the
universe?
Can you leap between galaxies or re-fashion
the orbits of stars or planets, or yet fully understand the fundamental forces
of the cosmos?
Can you yet contemplate travelling to the
beautiful Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Have you fully uncovered
the laws of the universe or can you emulate God’s care for it?
Could you reduce turbulences that beset
distant planets, weather the extreme storms on other worlds or alter the path
of the arrow of time?
Have you even perfected knowledge of your
own benign planet, understood the reason for its existence and how to encourage
your own people to act as responsible stewards for it?
Can you fathom in your exquisitely fashioned
brain the mind of your maker or conceive the depth of his love?
Will you ever understand enough to render
praise and thanksgiving truly worthy of the Creator of heaven and the entire
cosmos?
If you enjoy this re-imagining of scripture, you might also like to look at Psalm 24 v C21 on this blog
If you enjoy this re-imagining of scripture, you might also like to look at Psalm 24 v C21 on this blog
AND/OR excerpts from Proverbs 8 with contemporary scientific expressions.
