There is a rather humorous aspect of the story of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. You likely know the basic story, which begins with the men of that early time saying, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves (Gen 11:4). It was an image of pride, of grandiosity.
The humor is that when the great tower, with its top reaching to the heavens, is finally built, it is actually so puny that God has to come down from Heaven in order to see it! The text says, And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built (Gen 11:5).
Now of course God, as omniscient, clearly sees everything, and the humor in the text is not in some primitive notion of God. Rather the humor is for our benefit. In effect it says that our greatest, tallest, most prominent and glorious work—a tower that we saw as reaching Heaven itself—is in fact so small that God has to stoop to “see” it. He has to descend to get even a glimpse of it. What ultimately DOES alarm God is how colossal our pride is, and thus he has to humble us by confusing our language and scattering us about the planet.
I recalled this story as I viewed the video below. It is wonderful footage of Earth, taken from the Space Shuttle. There is audio commentary by a NASA scientist explaining some of the features we are seeing and where on the globe we are looking as the images pass by. The view is truly remarkable. But what is even more remarkable is what we do NOT see: us!
It is an astonishing thing that even though the shuttle is passing over highly populated areas there is no visual evidence that we even exist. No cities or buildings are visible; no planes streak through the skies; even large scale agricultural features seem lacking. There is only one mention of a color difference across the Great Salt Lake, and that is due to a railroad bridge preventing circulation. But the bridge is in no way visible, only its effect.
We think of ourselves as so big, so impressive. And yet even in low Earth orbit, we cannot be seen. It is true that at night our cities light the view, but during the day next to nothing says we are here. Even the magnified picture on my 30″ iMac screen shows no evidence of us below.
And having viewed the video, I think of Psalm 8:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens … When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Yet, You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Yes, we are so powerful (by God’s gift) and yet so tiny as to be nearly invisible from a short distance into space. Our mighty buildings rise, but they rise on a speck of space dust called Earth, which revolves around a fiery point of light called the Sun. And our huge sun is but one point of light in the Milky Way galaxy of over 100 billion stars. And the Milky Way galaxy, so huge to us as to be nearly incomprehensible, is but one of an estimated 200 billion galaxies.
What is man O Lord that you are mindful of him? Jesus says of us, And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered (Matt 10:30). Yes God, who knows the numbers of the stars and calls them by name, also knows the number of the hairs on each of our heads. Nothing escapes him.
And old preacher’s saying goes, “We serve a God who sits high, yet looks low!” Indeed, never forget how tiny you and I are, yet never cease to marvel that God knit you together in your mother’s womb and sustains every fiber of your being. We cannot even be seen from low Earth orbit, but God, who sees all, looks into our very heart. Do not cease to marvel that, though tiny, you and I are wonderfully, fearfully made (Psalm 139), and He has put all things under our feet.
You remind me of Apollo 8’s Christmas visit to the moon and the first ever ‘earth rise’ viewed by humans. They men were so steeped in the glory of God they planned their broadcast of Genesis without consideration of their NASA supervisors. The broadcast went world-wide on Christmas Eve, 1968. It was the last such broadcast as NASA was resoundingly criticized and clamped down on every initiative of the astronauts following that. But, in the end, Genesis was heard by billions simultaneously, and all who listened heard the Word.
And yet man thinks of his self as being so great as to control the weather and cause “global warming”. All we have to do is obey the almighty “Government god” and man can stop this terrible disaster that evil personhood has cause and don’t forget to pay tribute with lots of money. “You can save the world” is new tower of Babel, as we cause more pollution just so we can stop the earth from warming, as if we are like God. Humans in all their conceited thoughts can’t stop one hurricane, one tornado, one earthquake and yet we think we can stop global warming. So be good children and get that expensive solar car and wreck your roof with those solar panels because the government knows what’s best for you and don’t you dare question their authority or rotten science. I am sooo tired of the arrogance. Remember how the ACA or Obamacare was going to fix health care for everyone. Why should I give money to my local church that endorsed O’care and now it is costing me hundreds of dollars more each month for less health insurance. Thanks to the Bishops who now are on the worship the earth craze because they want to prove that they are the good stewards of the earth. Could you please stop listening to these fake Christian who are trying to destroy our faith in God and stand up for the families that are suffering under a government that you are helping. If the Bishops thought that immigration reform would save the earth I am sure they would be on the government band wagon. As it is illegal immigration is cause the destruction of the family in Mexico, why aren’t the Mexican Bishops angry and demanding that the Mexican government change its immigration laws? Immigration reform is part of the new tower of Babel and it will not solve the problem, but will make thing worse. This government is the man made gods of old and will want you to sacrifice more humans at it agencies for the common good and it worries me that the American Bishops are dancing with the devil.
It’s strange but that’s not what this video or the blog is about Sally. You may find some peace among the turmoil if you trust that God can relieve your frustrations enough to look at the bigger picture. Many can empathized with some of your perspectives but you can’t expect to change specifics by generalizing problems. Choose your battles realistically and put your mind, heart and soul in Christ’s hands. Peace be with you, He gives us His peace.
I wonder if you can feel upside down in space or if there is an upside down in space. It’s all relative.