HERE WE ARE! : THE PROUD STARS ..
A few wonderful sentences from the biblical book of Baruch:
"All the stars shine joyfully, each from its own place.
The Creator calls—and they say, ‘Here we are!’
Full of joy, they shine for Him who created them."
The scenario that Baruch evokes is a poetic expression of the relationship between creation and its Creator in the image of the stars. They rejoice and shine in gratitude for their existence. The creative Spirit of God, whom we already know from the first creation story in the Bible, always gives existence to the whole of Creation, which, as it were, says YES to this wholeheartedly...
We are not accustomed to looking at reality in this way.
Natural science takes a very different view.
When it talks about the stars, for example, it speaks of large clouds of atoms and molecules that condense, even to such an extent that new processes arise from which the enormous energy and radiation of each star originate.
Of course, it remains very impressive, that is certain, but it is a completely different approach: it is also true, and at the same time very different. Looking at the same thing but from a different angle.
The prophet Baruch, mentioned above, knew (almost) nothing about all those enormous evolutionary processes in the origin and development of the universe. But he feels and realizes that there is indeed a positive relationship between the Creator and his entire creation. Not just any relationship in general, but a real relationship with every part of this immense whole. And a positive relationship at that, a love, not a fleeting romantic love, but love in the true sense: the desire for and commitment to the good of the other - as is also true between us humans.
We, humans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are particularly blessed with what research and ever-expanding knowledge have to offer us all. With all this greater knowledge, we now have even more reason to be filled with wonder. A few years ago, we were given a very special glimpse into that enormous world:
After a journey of more than a million kilometers through the cosmos, far beyond the Earth's atmosphere (which always has a disturbing effect), this incredibly powerful telescope focused its lens on a piece of sky the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length. It is a tiny speck in the vast universe. The photo revealed thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed. Given the speed at which light travels, this photo allowed us to look back in time, to the universe “shortly after” its creation, 13.8 billion years ago. There they were, these ancient galaxies, now observed by humans for the very first time! Some were just points of light, others spherical clusters, and still others swirling in their characteristic spiral dance like graceful ballerinas. And then there were those elongated, glittering streaks caused by gravity...
Take a moment to ‘caress’ the photo above with your eyes....
In the early twentieth century, amid ongoing scientific controversy on this subject, we learned at school or later that our own spiral galaxy, the Milky Way, is already enormous and consists of billions of stars. Within that vast whole, the planet Earth revolves around one of the medium-sized stars, our sun, which is located on the outer arm of the spiral.
In a short period of time, over the course of the century, we discovered that there are billions (!) of other galaxies, each with billions (!) of stars and their planets. Our understanding and our senses cannot comprehend this at all. It is totally unimaginable and also impossible to grasp emotionally.
And that was what we heard already years ago...
NOW, the Webb telescope shows us that there are many more galaxies, just in one small spot in the firmament of the universe. Just multiply that! How many galaxies are there in total in the universe? When that question was asked to a NASA scientist, he paused for a moment. He couldn't hide his amazement: “Now the number is unlimited...” he said hesitantly. His choice of words surprised many. “Unlimited!”? That borders on infinity...
Normally, scientists, who focus on accurate observation and data analysis, do not believe that there is anything in the natural world that cannot be measured... But in any case, for now, the number of stars and their groupings is (much) greater than we can count. Everything is far beyond our comprehension, and our amazement and wonder continue to grow.
What kind of God created such a universe through this incredible evolutionary process, with all its ups and downs, with all the destructions (extinctions) and new “births,” of which we humans now see the incomprehensible “result” or, rather, begin to suspect? It makes one very quiet and still...
This also happened to Job, whose experiences are described in the biblical book of Job.
“Ask the galaxies!” God says to a speechless Job, who in all his misery no longer understands the why and how of his life and suffering. Look at the incomprehensible greatness of the Creator of spiral nebulae, milky ways, unlimited in number, look at the order of plants and animals, mountains and rivers and so much more... And Job just becomes silent...
Two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul wrote to the people of Rome: “From the grandeur and beauty of created things, by analogy, their original creator is seen” (Rom. 1:20). Paul is saying something like: Just as the Bible has been a rich source of insight into the holy mystery of God throughout the centuries, so there is another Bible: THE BOOK of NATURE.
Even more than for the people of Paul's time, for us today, this Book of Nature is a source of enlightenment, insight, wonder, and even prayer...
The Creator Spirit dwells in all of creation. In turn, creation reflects the Creator of all this beauty and grandeur. The whole of creation, from the great cosmos to our own world with its countless species of plants and animals and so much creativity, is in fact also a Bible, a source of knowledge, wonder, and trust.
For me, the invitation of our time is this: Let us learn to read each of these two books through the lens of the other: Look at the heavens and the earth with a religious spirit—and let everything that the whole natural world calls out to us deepen our understanding of the Bible. Read these two Books in each other's light. We, in this day and age, have this wonderful and fruitful opportunity!
Nowadays, we are rightly very concerned about our world and the fate of all plant, animal, and human life. However, let us also have the courage to remain open to the unimaginable greatness, beauty, and goodness in and around us—and to continue to trust in the faithfulness of the loving Creator, who encompasses and sustains all things, and who will not abandon us in our efforts.
Let us therefore also listen to those billions of creatures who enthusiastically, gratefully, and proudly cry out: HERE WE ARE!
Johan Muijtjens
February 2026
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