Christian Book Review, The Hand of God

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV)

“Deep sky is, of all visual impressions, the nearest akin to a feeling.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notebooks - selected from The Hand of God.

Who has not looked up at the sky in wonder? Amazement at God’s creation of the heavens and earth touches us all. Even scientists who take a great deal of time to study the why’s and how’s of science pause in this wonder and amazement.

The Hand of God, Thoughts and Images Reflecting the Spirit of the Universe is a delightful book of the Hubble Space Telescope’s Deep Field pictures interspersed with thoughts and reflections on this aspect of God’s creation. It is edited by Michael Reagan with an Introductory Essay by Sharon Begley.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), built at a cost of about 1.5 billion dollars and launched into space in 1990, is currently the most powerful optical telscope in the world. Initially Hubble was near-sighted due to some optical calculation errors and corrections were made in 1993 to repair the Telescope and send back images that man has longed to see for years.

As an astronomy entusiast I had to check this book out. To see close-ups of stars and planets, images of God’s design, things I could only see as specks of light at limited magnitudes with the naked eye, is a pleasure. The telescopes hobbiests use don’t compare to the big HST in the sky.

This book is for everyone. Children especially will love this book, it is probably as cool as a trip to the zoo. However, it is hard to keep their awe contained. I checked this book out of our church library before a service. My oldest was quite intent on finding Jupiter before the children’s sermon that day. She’s trying to find out the reason Mom wanders around at night looking to the heavens.

This book reminds me of the awesome power of God and the gifts he bestows upon us. At Pentecost as we are reminded of the gift of the Holy Spirit, who cannot look to the heavens and be inspired by it all?

Whether you have a fancy for the night skies or not, when skies are cloudy and you need a sky fix, this book is a view of another garden of God’s creation.… CHECK IT OUT!