Worlds Apart

There is a profound statement at the beginning of Psalm 19, and these opening verses can remind us of the majestic handiwork of our God:
(1) The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun...

God is revealing Himself each day, every moment.  We just have to be dedicated to looking for Him. The entirety of His creation shows His glory, and that includes each of us. As humans, we can attempt to create and achieve, but ultimately our wisdom is inferior to that of the one who made us. But, we can rejoice that we can know Him, that we can be inspired to think godly thoughts and to be led of the Spirit of God.  He calls us to avail ourselves of His wisdom.

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We can trust in the power of a wonderful Creator, who made us in His image and who has made a universe that testifies to His greatness. Psalm 147 states:
1 Praise the LORD.How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

Within the past few days, not too far from here, in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico off the coast near Pensacola, the Space X vessel returned from its journey.  It was a mission that was originated with private investment in partnership with NASA.  It was quite the historic moment.  

The project was the brainchild of Tesla founder Elon Musk, and The Christian Post reported:

In remarks after the Dragon Capsule completed a splash landing in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, bringing home two U.S. astronauts, the chief engineer and CEO of SpaceX, said at one point during his speech: “You know, I’m not very religious, but I prayed for this one.”

But at the very core, Musk believes human space travel is an "achievement of humanity," relating, “I think this is something that the whole world can take some pleasure in...These are difficult times when — you know, there’s not that much good news — and I think this is one of those things that is universally good no matter where you are on planet Earth, this is a good thing, and I hope it brightens your day.”  He also thinks that transporting humans to Mars is a possibility, 

Certainly, Musk is an innovator, a true science guy, who dabbles very lightly in religious matters.  He was apparently originally on board with Kanye West's quixotic run for the Presidency, tweeting out support after Kanye announced it.  And, in 2018, according to the BBC, Musk said that he was inspired by West and Fred Astaire; the article says that in 2015, he wrote:

"Kanye's belief in himself and his incredible tenacity - he performed his first single with his jaw wired shut - got him to where he is today. And he fought for his place in the cultural pantheon with a purpose.

"Now that he's a pop-culture juggernaut, he has the platform to achieve just that. He's not afraid of being judged or ridiculed in the process. Kanye's been playing the long game all along, and we're only just beginning to see why."

But does that mean he will invest his riches in Kanye's flagging campaign?  A campaign marked by some erratic behavior?

Premier Christianity had some interesting comments regarding Musk from a 2017 article:

Musk doesn’t claim to have any religious beliefs. In an interview with Rainn Wilson (Dwight from the US version of The Office) when asked if science and religion can coexist, Musk replied, “Probably not”. To the next question, “Do you pray?”, he answered, “I didn’t even pray when I almost died of malaria.”

Yet, despite his lack of faith in God, there is much that the Church can learn from someone like Musk. While his fears about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence may seem like the stuff of sci-fi films let’s not forget that Musk has already displayed a remarkable knack for anticipating where our tech is taking us.

The article contends that Musk "does have a faith" and relates: "Musk’s faith is in ourselves to save ourselves. With all his dedication and determination to seeing humanity overcome its own propensity for self-destruction (especially his dream to transcend our place in the universe by colonising Mars) perhaps Elon Musk is prompting onlookers to ask important questions that we as Christians can help answer."

But as the article, written by Tim Bechervaise, states:

Fixing the world is one thing, fixing the people who live on it is another. As Christian preacher Adrian Rogers put it, “The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.” Even if humans do end up living on Mars, they will still need saving from themselves.

Elon Musk is a smart and talented guy, but his wisdom is limited; yet God's wisdom and power are unlimited.  We have to recognize that answers lie beyond this world and beyond the realm of human understanding - the Lord has given us incredible clues through His creation - the Scriptures say that the heavens declare the glory of God. The order and majesty of the universe testify to the existence of and the profound activity of a Creator.

We also recognize that technology can help or hurt, but cannot replace God-given human creativity. And, it certainly is incapable of truly mining the depths of the human heart. It still takes the knowledge of humanity to program or to build a computer - but, wrong data put into a computer will still yield errant results. 

We can examine what we have our faith in.  Elon Musk apparently doesn't believe that science and religion can co-exist; there are Christian believers see who see that scientific discoveries are consistent with the presence of creator God.  We can settle for less by placing trust in human understanding, or we can go deeper by acknowledging and seeking out God's understanding - while we cannot begin to comprehend all that is in the mind of God, He has given us His Word as a foundation to discover and to know Him.