In idle moments I spend time admiring the way a computer can predict the rising and setting of sun, moon and planets. I have several programs which perform this feat. You simply tell the program where you are in the world and ask it when and where the sun will set at your location. It gives a time of day and a point on the compass. Lo and behold, the sun sets - at the right place and right on cue. What a well-ordered solar system we live in!
You can also make the program predict events in the skies hundreds of years in the future, or back-track to the past. The writers warn you that, the further away you get in time, the less accurate the program will be, since things happen which change the maths. A huge earthquake such as the recent one in Japan, or a massive volcanic eruption, can slow the earth's spin by a fraction of a second. This can put the calculations out considerably over the course of time.
With all man's cleverness, he cannot predict or control the unexpected. It is time to admit our limits. God challenged Job in ancient times about the starry heavens:
"Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (Job 38:31-33 NIV)
The most we can do is to think God's thoughts after Him. After all, who could ever predict that He would send His own Son, His very self, to die for sins that we had done and rise again to give us life?
No comments:
Post a Comment