In (Psalm 19:1) King David shares one of the most profound observations in all of Scripture when he states: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” We know that our awesome God has two ways in which he reveals Himself to us. Clearly, the most important is special revelation. This speaks of God letting Himself be known to us through the written revelation contained in the Holy Bible. But the second type – natural revelation or nature – reveals attributes of His creative genius that should leave us in holy awe at the majesty of God’s creation. Indeed, whether we reflect on the vastness of our universe or the minuteness of a human cell both display beauty and complexity that only an all loving and powerful God could create.
In order to illustrate how nature confirms that God’s creative powers and not blind chance, as sadly atheists believe, are evidence of His existence let’s look at the following two examples among countless thousands:
The Human Eye
Did you know that Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution had no satisfactory explanation on how the human eye could have evolved? In his book, The Origin of Species, Darwin states: “To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.”1 And it is for good reason that the human eye was Darwin’s worst nightmare for the human eye is so vastly complex that only in the last 50 years have we begun to discover and fathom how sight works.
As I shared in an earlier devotion the next time you open your eyes, try to imagine how sight works. The first thing that may come to mind is that sight functions on autopilot. You see without thinking or doing anything. If you have some knowledge of science you probably are aware that engineering, chemistry, and information processing functions are all occurring simultaneously. Another thought is that seeing involves light, color, motion and perspective. In reality the human eye is far more sophisticated than any human camera ever invented. Not only that but the human eye is made up of protein molecules that in turn form all of the complex structures that we are all familiar with. The cornea, iris, retina, optic nerve, and many other complex sub-structures make up the human eye.
How sight functions is vastly complex but we can thank God that this precious gift is just part of being human. Ophthalmologists need to go to school for years just to learn how this small part of the human anatomy functions. Not only that but there are even sub-specialists that specialize in parts of the eye such as the retina and cornea. Clearly the human eye and sight declare the glory of God.
Migration
Bird migration is instinctive yet fabulously mysterious and quite frankly a miracle of God. According to Muriel Larson: “Many species of birds migrate hundreds or thousands of miles in the fall of the year, and in the spring, they return the same distance to the same vicinity in which they had lived the year before. Often, they return to the same backyard or field year after year. What compass guides them? How can they tell one air lane from another? How do they manage to return to the same country, the same state, the same county, the same city, or the same backyard year after year?”2
As an example, consider the tiny German warbler. This amazing bird summers in Germany and winters in Africa. The question is how can these warbler’s travel thousands of uncharted miles back and forth and return to the same place they began their journey. Experiments have shown that the warbler has an instinctive knowledge of longitude, latitude, and the ability to use the stars to navigate. Larson’s comments again prove fascinating: “The tiny German warbler leaves by itself in the fall and flies over the southern part of Europe, continuing south until it reaches its goal in southern Africa. In the spring it returns northward to Germany to set up housekeeping again. Scientific studies have revealed that these birds get their navigation from the stars.”3 Again, clearly bird migration declares the glory of God.
Nature, is God’s wonderful canvass, in which He is displaying His wonders and majesty for all to see. Can we learn about God from Nature? Perhaps (Job 12:7-10) gives us the answer: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”
1 Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection. p. 155.
2 Muriel Larson, God’s Fantastic Creation (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1975), p. 129
3 Ibid., p. 130.
This one is wonderful! Thank you!
I know I’ve said this before, but, this one is wonderful! Thank you!