Do You Really Think You Know It?

Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great? (Job 38:19–21)

Today’s big question: do you really think you know it?

Perhaps the most common objection people lodge against the concept of a young universe concerns light from distant stars and how it could reach the earth in the allotted time. While there are some possible answers for this question from a biblical creation perspective, it should be noted that the light time-travel issue is a major problem for advocates of the big bang.

There are many things we know about light, and yet nobody has ever been able to measure the speed of light in one direction. Our passage implies that we cannot know everything about light and its origins because we were not there when God uttered the words, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). However, we can be assured that light appeared immediately after He spoke those words. 

We can read great research on light and yet for everything we know, there is so much we don’t know. God told Job to consider this light that most of us take for granted. Those of us who are not visually impaired can open our eyes and see because of light. Even those of us who do not have the use of our eyes have ability to function and survive in this world because God has provided light. 

Light is an amazing thing. It is so common and necessary for life, and yet with all our knowledge and use of light, we cannot fully answer all the questions regarding it. We did not create light, and we cannot dogmatically rely on our own imaginations or speculations. We are bound to the limits of the observable and repeatable testing that can be done in the present within the laws that God upholds. To know about the light’s history and origin we must study His revelation of the past.

Since none of us witnessed God’s creation of light, we cannot comment more on the origination of light and its speed and process of travel other than to acknowledge that God said it and it was.   This is exactly the point Job needed to recognize. Whether you take it for granted or study it with full vigor, it’s only as a result of God’s limitless power and knowledge that we can have light at all. Don’t question God.

Today’s big idea: the things we cannot understand help us realize that He alone is God.

What to pray: admit your human limitations to God.