Feeling a little Rushed Lately? – Well, you might be surprised at how fast you’re actually moving, even when you’re “Standing still.”
The earth at this latitude of Washington DC is spinning at about 750 Miles an hour. [1]
But the spinning earth is also rotating around the Sun at approximately 67,000 miles an hour. [2]
And, the sun around which we move so fast is also rotating around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 483,000 miles per hour. [3]
And the whole universe is also spinning and moving outward at 1,339,200 miles per hour. [4]
It’s dizzying to consider our speed and motion: A spinning earth rotating around a sun which is rotating around a galaxy which is rotating around a universe at millions of miles an hour. So if you think you’re standing still, think again. We are actually hurtling through space at dizzying speeds.
Yes, you’re on the move! You’re moving so fast you met yourself coming back. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re loafing.
Here are some biblical speed texts, hurry up and read them!
Look! The Lord advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. (Jer 4:13)
I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands O Lord. (Psalm 119:60 Heth)
Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop! (1 Sam 20:38)
God has told me to hurry. (2 Chron 35:21)
I am not sure why but when I thought of a fast song, Vivialdi came to mind. Here is his setting of the 113th Psalm In exitu Israel de Aegypto, Domus, Jacob de populo barbaro….mare vidit et fugit! (In the going forth of Israel from Egypt, the House of Jacob from a barbarous people, the sea saw and fled! Enjoy a song that sets a brisk pace.
And here’s Vivaldi muy rapido, like you never heard him. It’s the Summer Presto on accordion!
MIRACLE EARTH?! The earth on which we live and which, by God’s grace, sustains our life is surely miraculous. Consider the following facts.
The life support system we call the solar system has just the correct distribution of large and medium sized planets to have swept clean most of the space through which Earth must travel. There are thus few asteroids anywhere near our path!
Further, large gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, “catch” comets in their gravitational fields and keep these comets from targeting earth.
Our star, the Sun, is just the right size to consume its supply of hydrogen and produce energy at a rate that provided the time and conditions for life to form.
Our orbit through space, at 93 million miles from the Sun, departs from a true circle by only 3 percent. Were it as elliptical as is the orbit of Mars, the next planet out, we would alternate between baking when closer to the Sun and freezing when distant.
Earth contains just enough internal radioactivity to maintain its iron core in a molten state. This produces the magnetic umbrella that deflects an otherwise lethal doses of the harmful aspects of solar radiation.
The volcanic activity driven by this internal heating is just adequate to have released previously stored subterranean waters into our biosphere, making them available for life processes, but not so much volcanism as to shroud our planet in dust.
Earth’s gravity is strong enough to hold the needed gases of our atmosphere but weak enough to allow lighter more noxious gases to escape into space.
All this is balanced at just the correct distance from our star so that our biosphere is warm enough to maintain water in its liquid, life-supporting, state, but not so warm that it evaporates away into space.
A just-right Earth with just the needed gravity, radioactivity, magnetic field, and volcanic activity to support life is located at just the correct distance from the Sun in a properly shaped orbit to nurture the inception and development of life…all the ingredients come together in just the right way…Just a nice coincidence? Or Maybe it’s God! You decide.
Here is a wonderful video on the magnificence of this Earth.
Feeling a little Rushed Lately? – If you feel a little rushed lately you might be surprised at how fast you’re actually moving, even when you’re “Standing still.”
The earth at this latitude of Washington DC is spinning at about 750 Miles an hour.
But the spinning earth is also rotating around the Sun at approximately 67,000 miles an hour.
And, the sun around which we move so fast is also rotating around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 558,000 miles per hour.
And the whole universe is also spinning and moving outward at 1,339,200 miles per hour.
It’s dizzying to consider our speed and motion: A spinning earth rotating around a sun which is rotating around a galaxy which is rotating around a universe at millions of miles an hour. So if you think you’re standing still, think again. We are actually hurtling through space at dizzying speeds.
Look! The Lord advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. (Jer 4:13)
I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands O Lord. (Psalm 119:60 Heth)
I know, I made the word up: “minificence.” I’ll define in a moment. But I want to ponder with you for a moment the awesome mystery of size and numbers as we look out and as we look in.
Outer Space: As we look out on to God’s Universe we cannot even fathom how huge, how magnificent, is the size of the universe. We cannot comprehend such size.
Inner Space: But what is equally amazing is how vast a universe exists, hid from our unaided eyes, in what we might call “inner space,” that tiny, almost invisible world of microbiology. In just a drop of pond water may exist hundreds of thousands of bacteria and microorganisms, a veritable universe unto itself. Indeed, in every human body exists trillions of microorganisms in a kind of microbial fauna. Eighty different types of microorganisms live in the mouth alone. Every square centimeter of human bowel contains as many as ten billion organisms. Every square centimeter of skin contains 10 million individual bacteria. Even on our eyelashes are colonies of helpful bacteria and microorganisms that help keep harmful bacteria away. These massively numbered civilizations, universes really, of microorganisms, are only known recently with the invention of powerful microscopes. And to the micro-world of microorganisms, our bodies must seem as massive as the universe of outer space seems to us. If a microorganism could think, it would look upon our mere tiny bodies as a vast universe to large to really comprehend. Instead of trillions of stars, there are trillions of microorganisms. And to a microbe on eyelash, a bacteria on the toe exists millions of light years away.
Minificence and Magnificence! If outer space is magnificent (from the Latin magnus meaning large or great) then inner space is (according to me) minificent (from the Latin minimus meaning small or tiny). The abundance of life in these “small” worlds is unimaginable. To the microorganisms which accompany me I am a universe too vast to comprehend. But I am but one man and there are over six billion human beings on this planet. And I, even we collectively, am not large at all. I am an infinitesimally small speck, on a slightly larger but still tiny speck of dust rotating around a fiery spark called the sun in a galaxy of over 200 billion other fiery sparks (or stars). And this is just one galaxy and there are over 125 billion other galaxies in the known universe so large that it would take over 100 million light years to cross it.
Time for wonder and awe! We’ve moved from inner space to outer space in a matter of moments but we really cannot comprehend numbers like these. It’s time for wonder and awe. God does all this with a simple word, and it is so. He knows the depths of our souls, the tiniest forms of life that cling to us. Every hair of our head is numbered and known to him. He knows the farthest fringes of the universe. He made the stars and calls them by name. Ah the Lord: He who dismisses the light, and it departs, calls it, and it obeys him trembling; Before whom the stars at their posts shine and rejoice; When he calls them, they answer, “Here we are!” shining with joy for their Maker. (Baruch 3:33-35). One of the great hymns says: O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder; Consider all the works Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Do not forget to meditate on God’s wonders. It is a great antidote to pride. God has done unspeakable and marvelous things. And more is unseen than seen. The book of Sirach says: Beyond these, many things lie hid; only a few of his works have we seen. (Sirach 43:34)
