Expanse: (noun) a very wide space or area* 

The drive from Dallas to Los Angeles is a long one.     And for most of it, a desolate one.  And hours and hours of it take place in Texas.

I have often heard that the Dallas to El Paso leg is longer than the El Paso to LA.    Over half way there and still in Texas?!  That is hard to believe I know.   I had even opened up my laptop to write about this very thing.  Glad I fact-checked it to be sure.   Turns out it is not true.      Dallas to El Pass is 635 miles.   El Paso to LA, 801.  No wonder it is hard to believe.   I will chalk it up to Texas bravado and swagger as to why the story has traction.  But nonetheless, 635 miles from Dallas to El Paso is still quite an expanse.   And that is not even starting from the eastern Texas state line, which BTW (quick goggle check) is 812 miles to El Paso.   Hmmm…perhaps that is how the story is originally told.

There is another expanse I like to consider.   That is in the distances in the heavens.    I often get lost contemplating the universe.  And mesmerized in considering the ease in which God made it.

Regarding the stars, Genesis 1:16 says:

God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; 

He made the stars also.

Seemingly casually mentioned, as if an afterthought, God made the stars…also.

And the effort to do so?

David wrote:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers…
Psalm 8:3a

It is of interest to me that star-making is light duty for our Lord.    David does not describe the strength of a hand, nor the heft of an arm.   Simply finger work.

 But let us now turn our attention to one particular group of stars…the constellation Orion. It is one of the few specifically mentioned in Scripture.

Job in 9:9

Who makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, 

The prophet Amos wrote…

He who made the Pleiades and Orion …

…The Lord is His name.
Amos 5:8

I have been enjoying gazing at Orion in the early mornings before the ever brightening dawn turns down the dimmer switch of the celestial.   Orion is easy to spot with its distinctive “belt” of three prominent stars, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.    Based on their visibility to the naked eye, I have always assumed that the three stars of the belt were roughly the same distance from earth.   That is another distance on which I have not been correct.

The star on the left of the belt is Alnitak, and is approximately 740 light-years from earth.  Alnilam, in the middle, is roughly 2,000 light-years.**    So… just as when you arrive in El Paso you are not half way to LA, when you get to Alnitak, you are not yet halfway to Alnilam.  

Try to fathom the immensity of that…

And you are right, we cannot.

Nor could David…

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; 
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Psalm 19:1 

Indeed, let us…

Praise the Lord! 
Praise God in His sanctuary; 
Praise Him in His mighty … expanse.
Psalm 150:1

Rod
S.D.G. – 16

* the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary 
** Space.com
***Orion photo by JW Briggs Milton