A Janitorial Service in Space

Genesis 1:16
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.”

Let’s say that you drop by a friend’s house, and you find her at one end of the kitchen with a sponge mop in her hands. Three-quarters of the kitchen floor is wet. That picture provides you with a type of clock. You know that she has been mopping the kitchen floor for awhile and is nearly done.

It’s much the same in space. There is a great deal of dust in between the Earth, the moon, all the other planets, and the sun. However, you won’t need to send your friend with the mop to clean it up because the sun and planets slowly sweep this dust from space. If you have ever seen a meteor or “shooting star” streak through the night sky, the bright trail was probably made by a particle no larger than a grain of sand. The Earth was doing its part in the solar system’s ongoing janitorial work. Yes, some of this space dust actually ends up in our homes!

Unlike what often seems to be true in our homes, there is a limited supply of dust in space. It is, however, still a huge amount. Like your friend’s kitchen floor, we might get an idea of how long the Earth, the sun and the other planets have been around by finding out how much of that dust has already been cleaned up. According to scientists’ own figures, our Earth and the rest of the solar system could not have been around more than 10,000 years!

This is such a mystery to scientists who believe that things are billions of years old that some have even suggested that this dust doesn’t follow the laws of physics. However, this is no mystery to those of us who know that the Bible provides for only about 6,000 years of Earth history – and therefore only about 6,000 years of space dust janitorial service!

Prayer:
Dear Father, help me to understand and believe all that You tell me in Your Word, for here is where I learn of the forgiveness of my sins in Your Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.

Notes:
Ackerman, Paul D. 1986. It’s a Young World After All. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. pp. 29-40.