What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Job 38:19
William Shatner played Captain Kirk on the television series Star Trek, but he was unprepared for a real trip into space. He called his eleven-minute sub-orbital flight “the most profound experience I can imagine.” He stepped out of his rocket and marveled, “To see the blue color go right by you and now you’re staring into blackness, that’s the thing.” You “look down and there’s the blue down there and the black up there.” He added, “The beauty of that color and it’s so thin and you’re through it in an instant.”
Our planet is a blue dot surrounded by utter darkness. It’s unsettling. Shatner said that flying from blue sky into blackness was like flying into death. “In an instant, you go, ‘Whoa, that’s death!’ That’s what I saw. It was so moving to me. This experience, it’s something unbelievable.”
Shatner’s shattering flight puts life in perspective. We’re small objects in the universe, yet we’re loved by the One who created light and separated it from the darkness (Genesis 1:3–4). Our Father knows where the darkness resides and the path to its dwelling (Job 38:19–20). He “laid the earth’s foundation . . . while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy” (vv. 4–7).
Let’s trust our small lives to the God who holds the whole universe in His hands.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?b
Tell me, if you understand.c
5 Who marked off its dimensions?d Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring linee across it?
6 On what were its footings set,f
or who laid its cornerstoneg—
7 while the morning starsh sang togetheri
and all the angelsa j shouted for joy?k
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doorsl
when it burst forth from the womb,m
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,n
10 when I fixed limits for ito
and set its doors and bars in place,p
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;q
here is where your proud waves halt’?r
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,s
or shown the dawn its place,t
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wickedu out of it?v
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;w
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,x
and their upraised arm is broken.y
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?z
17 Have the gates of deatha been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?b
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?c
Tell me, if you know all this.d
19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?e
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the pathsf to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!g
You have lived so many years!
INSIGHT
- What comes to mind as you consider the vastness of space?
- What does the night sky reveal about God?
The Bible points to God as Creator throughout its pages. Along with the two creation accounts in Genesis 1–2, Job describes the wonders of creation (chs. 38–41). In the Psalms, David declared, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful” (Psalm 139:14). In Colossians 1:16, Paul wrote of Jesus, “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.” John exclaimed, “Through him all things were made” (John 1:3; see Revelation 4:11), and the author of Hebrews wrote that “the universe was formed at God’s command” (11:3).
PRAYER
Father, You rule this world and all that lies beyond. I trust Your powerful love. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Job 38:4-21 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Joel 1-3; Revelation 5
