Who is Man?

PARADE Magazine ran an article in this Sunday's issue called "For the Love of Hubble". The Hubble Telescope, I learned from the article, was shot into space in 1990 and is going to receive a tune-up in October of this year (http://www.nasa.gov/). Though what truly grabbed my attention was a section my brother read to me:

"It [the Hubble Telescope] has taught us so much -- including that the universe is 14 billion years old."

I couldn't help but asking, "What end of the telescope were they looking through?!" My dad drolly replied, "The wrong end."

Truth be told, the stars should point us not to the age of the universe but to the creator of the heavenly beings. The article in PARADE goes on in praise of this telescope:

"Among Hubble's highlights is settling the decades-old debate about the age of the universe. Previously, the data were so bad that astrophysicists could not
agree. Some thought 10 billion years. Other, 20 billion. Yes, it was embarrassing. But Hubble enabled us to measure accurately how the brightness varies in a particular type of star that resides in a distant cluster of galaxies. That information, when plugged into a simple formula, tells us their distance from Earth. And because the entire universe is expanding at a known rate, we can then turn back the clock to determine how long ago everything was in the same place. The answer? The universe was born 14 billion years ago".

What? The greatest accomplishment is that it helped us determine whether the universe is 10 BILLION or 20 BILLION years old?! It's ludicrous! Should not the greatest triumph of space exploration in general be what David declared in Psalm 8: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor" (v. 3-5)?

I had the opportunity to look through a telescope, one my grandpa set up in my cousins' big field on their property which sits up on a hill. It was dark and the stars were out in droves. Looking through the eyepiece, I beheld Saturn and it's rings! If that wasn't awe inspiring, I don't know what is! "Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands" (Psalm 102:25).

"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible" (Hebrews 11:3). When we behold the stars, we gaze upon the the heavenly lights that God spoke into existence. Take a stroll around the block or if you are fortunate, a walk in a field, and turn your gaze upward, pondering who we are, that God of the universe is mindful of us. "You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you" (Nehemiah 9:6).