A Brief Conversation About Light

As COVID-19 wreaks havoc on our sense of normalcy, I’m continually reminded that there is a lot more going on than we can see. God is at work.

Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, "At such and such a place shall be my camp." But the man of God (also known as Elisha) sent word to the king of Israel, "Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there."  And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God (Elisha) told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.

And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, "Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?" And one of his servants said, "None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom." And he said, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him." It was told him, "Behold, he is in Dothan." So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, "Please strike this people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." And he led them to Samaria.

(2 Kings 6:8-19)

As you sit here and read this post, stop for a moment and consider that what you’re seeing right now may not be the whole picture. Earlier last year, I began a Biblical study on the topic of “Light”. Today, I’d like to give you a taste of some of those findings. 

How Much Can We Actually See? 

A Quick Recap of the Electromagnetic Spectrum 

Before I get into some crazy observations, take yourself back to high school science class for a moment. You likely would have learned about a thing called the electromagnetic spectrum of light. It sounds complicated, but it’s not.

The electromagnetic spectrum of light is a collection of all the electromagnetic radiation, according to frequency and wavelength. There are gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet, infrared, microwaves, radio waves, and then visible light.

All electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, but only a very small portion of that spectrum can be seen by our eyes; that is called visible light.

For example, when I take a photograph using a regular camera and lens, I am capturing the result of visible light.

When I capture photos of nebulas in deep space, I can do it using the same method—by capturing the result of visible light. For many of my space photographs, I use a technique called long-exposure photography, which captures the result of visible light for an extended period of time so that I can get sharp, clear images.

 

But there’s another method I can also use. With the use of special frequency-specific filters, I can capture things like hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur—things that the human eye can’t see on its own—because they are not part of the visible light frequency. In my deep space photos below, blue represents oxygen, green is hydrogen, and orange/red is sulfur. These color combinations are also known as the Hubble Palette.

 

These techniques are also used in everyday things like Wi-Fi, radio, television signals, cell phones, bone-scan x-rays, and MRIs. Yes, these waves are all part of the electromagnetic spectrum of LIGHT.

(For further reading on this subject, check out NASA’s Hubblesite: http://g7.gs/hubble) 

A Dose of Reality & Perspective 

Here’s where it gets really interesting… If you took the entire electromagnetic spectrum of light— radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light rays, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays—and you stretched that spectrum like a measuring stick from the city of Los Angeles all the way to the city of New York, how much of that spectrum do you think you could see?

The answer: The visible range that you would be able to see is equal to the size of a dime! That’s it! Visible light makes up for the size of a dime.

And yet we make life-changing decisions every single day based only on what we can see.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:1,3)

The next time you make a decision, consider the dime and remember faith.

For without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

If you’d like to read more on this topic, you can do so here. I also send out an email each morning that includes a photo that I’ve taken along with a Scripture passage. You can subscribe to that here.