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

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...

Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel. For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.   That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime. I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.   Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.   More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips. As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective: 1.   “ Bucket list trips ” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).   While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bu...

Above My Pay Grade!

We like things that we can study, know and understand.  Sometimes we find it difficult to accept that there are things that might be hidden from our knowledge and understanding. The Scriptures indicate that there are some things hidden by design:  “The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and to our children forever. He does it so we can obey all the words of this law.”  (Deut 29:29) Some versions of the Bible translate the hidden things as “secret things”.  Regardless, there are things which have been revealed and things which are kept hidden from us and remain secret. We may chafe at having to deal with the fact that some things remain hidden, but that’s often when faith and trust come in.  The Psalmist wrote:   “O Lord , my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”  (Ps 131:1) The Psalmist seem to realize that th...