How Big Is God
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-20)
On Monday, July 12, 2022, NASA released some of the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The one below was of the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date and is known as “Webb’s First Deep Field.”
This image contains thousands of galaxies and offers a view of deep space that has never been seen by mankind before now. What is absolutely amazing is this small slice of the vast universe is such a small sliver of the night sky from earth that it is like viewing a small portion approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground.
As soon as I saw this image, the song I heard growing up in church by Stuart Hamblin came to mind entitled, “How Big Is God.” He wrote it in 1959. Here are the lyrics:
‘Though men may strive to go beyond the reach of space
To crawl beyond the distant glimm’ring stars
This world’s a room so small within my Master’s house
The open sky but a portion of his yard
How big is God? How big and wide is His vast domain?
To try to tell these lips can only start
He’s big enough to rule His mighty universe
Yet small enough to live within my heart
As winter chill may cause the tiny seed to fall
To lie asleep ’til waked by summer’s rain
The heart grown cold will warm and trod with life anew
The Master’s touch will bring the glow again
How big is God? How big and wide is His vast domain?
To try to tell these lips can only start
He’s big enough to rule His mighty universe
Yet small enough to live within my heart
More Details
Here’s what NASA had to say in their news release about the image . . .
#1 – Deep Field: SMACS 0723
NASA’s Webb Delivers Deepest Infrared Image of Universe Yet
Status: 1st Image Released 7/12/22 ~10:39am EDT
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail.
Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground.
This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks.
The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it. Webb’s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus – they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features. Researchers will soon begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions, as Webb seeks the earliest galaxies in the universe.