I have been, as I assume many others have been, intrigued by the stars at night. Living in northeast Ohio, however, I am unable to see them as much as I would like. But on those rare occasions when the night is clear and I am able to gaze up into the sky I am always left with a sense of wonder.
I remember a time when I was in Swaziland visiting a missionary friend and we sat out on his porch. When the sun went down and we were left in absolute darkness, something one can barely imagine if one has always lived in proximity to a city or town. It was not long before the night sky was lit up with millions of stars, more than I ever thought possible to be seen by the naked eye. It was, in a word, awesome. Now, when I think back on that moment, and even each night as I see the few stars able to be seen in northeast Ohio, I am reminded of the vastness of this universe and how small I am in its shadow.
I was recently listening to C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength and was struck by the significance of a comment made late in the book by Grace Ironwood as the N.I.C.E. begins to fall. She said, “The Laws of the universe are never broken. Your mistake is to think that the little regularities we have observed on one planet for a few hundred years are the real unbreakable laws; whereas they are only the remote results which the true laws bring about more often than not; as a kind accident.” This got me thinking about the true nature of the entire universe. I can scarcely imagine how the farthest reaches of space behave when I have only experienced a small locality of a somewhat cloudy and insignificant state for a span of fifty years. Furthermore, the laws, as we know them, have only begun to be studied as the concept of modern physics is really only in its infancy, (the ancient Greeks began around 600 B.C., and modern physics really is less than 500 years old.)
Even so, as vast and complex as this universe is and (nearly) regardless of your view of its origin, at some point we must all confront the truth of its temporality. Our own planet is doomed to die within the next 5 billion years, give or take a few, a result which will repeat itself the universe over, eventually leading to the death of the entire universe. Quite a bleak picture if the universe and the laws defining it are the source of our life and being.
Jesus said as he spoke to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matt. 24:35) It is almost as if Jesus knew that which modern physicists are just now coming to know: the universe will someday die. But, he also knows something that many of them don’t, something the psalmist knew as he penned Psalm 119:89-96: there are eternal laws which give us life, true life.
“Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”
The word of the LORD, both on the stone tablets and in the flesh of Jesus, the Christ, is eternal and will not pass away. These words are the source of life for all of us, not only abundant life in this world, as John’s gospel claims, but eternal life such as we saw a small glimpse in the resurrection of Lazarus and even more so in the resurrection of Jesus himself.
Sadly, however, the obvious truth is not always the easiest one to follow. For some reason, we are prone to place our hope in the corruptible universe, the universe whose laws have an inherent limitation. We are, (at least I know I am and have been), prone to think we can find life by following the laws of our own heart, a heart Jeremiah describes as “deceitfully wicked.” And every time we put our faith in this corrupt, and corruptible, heart we find ourselves choosing a path which leads to death: death of social relationships, death of spiritual relationships, in some instances death of our own health, and ultimately a final death wherein we will return to the dust from whence we came.
But God’s faithfulness endures to all generations. Even to insignificant me in northeast Ohio. Whereas the laws of this universe eventually lead to death, his laws lead to life. Whereas the laws of this universe, even in all their beauty and perfection, are temporal, created by God to sustain physical life, the laws of God are firmly fixed and unchangeable, never to pass away. It is his laws to which we must attend, even more so than we attend to the laws of physics.
I suspect when the psalmist says “by them you have given me life” he means we must actively pursue God’s word (stone and flesh) to find our life in this world and the next; we are to pursue them so much that they become our very nature. The reason I never think about abiding by the law of gravity is that I am held in its impersonal arms. I think that is what God asks of us with regards to his laws: that we abide in them so much so that they become an inescapable part of our nature, as we are loving held in the arms of a personal God.
