In recent news, scientists have again verified the age of the universe: 13.8 billion years, give or take a few million years. In the vastness of this universe, the earth is but a pale blue dot, invisible to the naked eye. The earth and our solar system are 4.5 billion years old. Man, as the embodied consciousness that he is, has been around only in the last million years or so. In this great scheme of things, we are but a moment in time. And in this great expanse of time and space, it is highly unlikely we are the only intelligent life forms. Searching for life in this vast universe is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. But might it also not be possible that indeed we are the only one of our kind in all of creation? Is it really just conceit on the part of man to think so? Or is it the reality? Even the Psalmist from of old had been wondering on the same question:
When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars which thou hast established;
what is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou dost care for him?
My hear breaks and it bleeds whenever I see my loved ones troubled, their souls in turmoil and their spirits anguished. If God were anything like us humans, I can imagine how disappointed he must be looking at our world. It is a messy, troubled place. And yet, things have always worked out for the better. I live a better life than my father and grandfather did. My sons and their children will have a better life than I have. In spite of all the troubles and turmoils, things do work out for the better in the long run.
There is so much to understand about life. We would get rid of the difficult parts if we could, thinking this is what life is all about. Yet, it is the difficult moments in life that enable us to get to the next peak experience. We would get rid of pain and suffering. Yet, time and again, it is pain and suffering that brings out the best in us.
God’s ways are not our ways. That is why he chose to reveal himself to us. For on our own, it would be very difficult if not well nigh impossible to even come upon on just an iota of understanding about him. Without him, we know nothing.
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”
John 11:45-56