Cap's Corner: Six sextillion suns, 10 dimensions, string theory...all adds up to God

We say that God created everything in Heaven and earth. Well, when the words of Genesis were first being spoken – and then, many years later, written down – the universe was thought to be our solar system. Today, of course, we know that the universe is so much bigger than anyone thought it was, even just 100 years ago.

Not only has our universe gotten bigger, but in many ways it has gotten stranger. Think about the fabric of space and time – and yes, space is something. We do not know what space really is. But we now know it is not just an empty vacuum, but it is in fact made up of a lot more stuff that we cannot see than all of the stuff we can see. There is dark energy and dark matter out there somewhere that makes up for a huge amount of the gravity within our universe.

And, even though there are over six sextillion suns in our universe, we are discovering that there may be many other dimensions. We live in a three-dimensional state, but what if there were as many as 10? String theory actually works, and it answers many of the mysteries of our universe – only if there are 10 dimensions. On top of all of this, there are some real theories about other planes of existence.

What do you have when you add all of this up? ONE REALLY, REALLY BIG, POWERFUL, AND SMART GOD! This is only what we do know! We have not even begun to talk about what’s up in Heaven.

This is the God that dwarfs everything and everyone. The magnitude and majesty of God cannot be expressed or understood even in the simplest of terms. At this point, our knees should be shaking. This is the God that we have sinned against, and the size of Him makes the universe, with all of its six sextillion suns, look SMALL!

And yet, this GREAT GOD wants to be our King. OK, no problem with that one. Even if we Americans really don’t have a foundation or tradition of bending our knees to a King, we certainly can understand this concept. Besides, God – this huge and magnificent being – says He wants this; and we would be very foolish to not accept God as our King!

Up to this point, we have gone from a God whose power is so beyond our understanding, to God being our King. However, God does not want to be a King over a bunch of subjects. No! God wants to be our King, and us to be His children. Now we have gone from a God that is inconceivable (Yes, I know what that means for all you “Princess Bride” fans) to a King that we can conceive to a Father that we can experience.

See? See how far God has to go to reach for us? Can you see how God has humbled Himself for us? This inconceivable, powerful God humbled Himself to be our King, who again has humbled Himself to be our Father – a Father that we can relate to, a Father we can understand, and a Father we can love. Then, He humbled Himself even more to become our Savior in the form of Jesus!

Wow! The magnitude is huge, but what does this have to do with Lent?

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is also known as Yom HaZikaron, which means “Day of Memory.” We too remember around New Years. We remember the movie and TV stars that have passed away, and we may remember a family member that passed away in the previous year; but the Jews remember the faithfulness of God.

We are not Jews. We are Christians, but I cannot help but think that we can learn something here from our Jewish brothers and sisters. We are entering the season of Lent. Traditionally, this was the Christian’s season of not just self-reflection – though there is much to that – but it was a season for us to remember the faithfulness of God in our own lives, in our own memories.

Let us take this season seriously. Mothers and fathers, make the time and effort to spend Lent with your children and teach them about God’s faithfulness. All throughout the Bible, again and again we read stories about God’s faithfulness. Here is a great start, but don’t stop there. Help teach your children to look in their own life where God has been faithful.

As a matter of fact, let us all do that this season. Find a “Lent Partner” to walk through this with you. Find someone you can trust, and who trusts you likewise. It could be your spouse, a family member, a friend, a church member, or a fellow worker. Let’s use the next 40 days to remember, and in our memories, we will be drawn closer to our God, our King, our Father!