Skip to main content

To Infinity

“To infinity and beyond”, to borrow a famous line…

Did you know that God gives us a little glimpse of what infinity is like?  He does and it’s found in Psalm 103:  “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”  (v. 12)

East is in one direction, and west is in the other. But east and west never meet.  No matter how far you continue traveling east, you would never come to a place where you start traveling west.  In fact, as long as you continue traveling east, you would be doing so forever and without end.  I think those are aspects of infinity!

Of course, that verse in the Psalm is not a lesson in direction nor is it likely intended to be an explanation of what infinity is.  It is, however, a wonderful reassurance that when God deals with our sins, He really deals with them. He removes them as far as the east is from the west.

Another glimpse of something we really can’t measure is also found in Psalm 103:  “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.”  (v. 11)

This is not east or west but up and down.  It is a statement of the overwhelming and mind-boggling distance from earth to the stars (the heavens).  The distance is incalculable and unimaginable.  But again, it is not necessarily a lesson in direction nor is it an explanation of that which is unimaginable but it is a lesson of God’s love.  His love stretches even further than that which to us in incalculable.

And my desire in writing this is not to draw our attention to directions nor is it to attempt to try to explain infinity.  My desire is to mirror, as best I can, what the Psalmist was trying to do, that is, to draw attention to God.  After all, what can be of greater importance than to know that God’s love stretches further than the greatest distances that we can ever imagine and that God takes care of our sins to the extent that they are infinitely removed from us.

With God, it is “to infinity and beyond!”

 

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Not Just Idle Words

I own a 25 year old car.  The body might be falling apart but the engine runs great and it idles smoothly.  Such idling is good. Idling can also have to do with spending too much time doing nothing or being without purpose or being engaged in that which is pointless.  Such idling is not good. What if I were to tell you that I know of something that is the about as far as being without purpose as you can get?  Would you want it? Here is that something:  “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”  ( Deut 32:47) Other versions of the Bible use some different words for that first phrase in the verse and such can be helpful in assessing how important the words really are: “Not meaningless words…”   “These are not just useless words…”   “No empty word for you…”   “Not unimportant words…”   “Not useless words…”   ...

Very Present

I love words that have multiple meanings but the same spelling.  Take the word “present” for example.  You may be thinking of “present”, as in a gift.  Gotta love those! But I’m thinking of “present”, as in existing now or occurring now. I’m also thinking of “present”, as in being at hand. Why those two latter ones, you might ask, why not just go with the gift! Well, I recently read Psalm 46, and here is the first verse:   “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Some theologians suggest the word “present” in this Psalm has the meaning of “well proven”.  I certainly can appreciate that. But I’ve been wondering if “present” could include the meaning of “now existing or now occurring”.  That is, God is exists now and is occurring in our lives. Furthermore, I’ve been wondering if “present” could also include “being at hand”.  That is, God is here, right now, with us.   And with even further wondering, the wo...

Be Amazed!

Be amazed… Jesus welcomed sinners …The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners… (Luke 15:2) Jesus hung out with sinners …And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7) Jesus ate with sinners …And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matt 9:11) Jesus was a friend of sinners …The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Matt 11:19) With Jesus being so welcoming, what did people do? People came to see Him …They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” (John 12:21) People came to hear Him …Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. (Luke 15:1) People followed Him …While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many ta...