It has been said that we are but a speck on a speck within a speck. As you read on, consider the following: You are but one of over 7 billion human beings on this planet called Earth; you are a mere speck in comparison to this vast sea of humanity.
Astronomers tell us that the stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy alone number over 100 billion, and that our galaxy is one of but billions and perhaps trillions of other galaxies. Thus, our own planet Earth is but one heavenly body amidst countless trillions upon trillions of others. If one person is a speck among 7 billion, imagine how minute a speck our planet becomes among untold trillions.
But what of the concept of time? Time seems to be one dimension that has no beginning or end, but just continues on into eternity. In this dimension, the seventy to eighty years that most people can expect to live today seem nothing more than a statistical blip in time when measured against eternity.
Yes, when we view ourselves against such vast numbers, we can only stand in awe at how infinitely small a role we seem to play in the scope of our universal history.
Before you started reading this, I am sure that you thought of yourself as someone of high importance and value, not as a speck. If this were not humiliation enough, we get an even bleaker picture of who we are if we worship at the shrine of science.
Most of us have been taught at one time or another that man has evolved through an evolutionary process, that, starting with very primitive single-cell creatures, we have evolved to what we are today, over a period of a few billion years. Further, we are told that this all came about by chance from inanimate matter.
Science teaches that in essence we came about by chance. Unfortunately, science has nothing to say about what happens to you after you die, except that you will soon decay and go back to nothing. If this is so, we came from nothing, and when we die we are going back to nothing. Therefore, somehow for the seventy or eighty years we are here, we must find meaning in between these two states of nothingness. If that’s true, not only are you a speck, but a speck that has come about by chance.
You Are Extraordinary
Now wait a minute. The title of this devotion is “You Are Extraordinary!” Certainly, from what I have presented so far, you would have every right to call into question just how extraordinary a chance speck (such as you) can really be.
Unfortunately, if one views the universe from the cold, hard, meaningless viewpoint that science offers us, there can be little hope of demonstrating this devotion title.
But there is a book that does indeed tell us just how truly extraordinary we really are. That book is the Bible. Let’s see what this book has to say about you.
In the Book of Psalms, we read, “For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee For I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Psalm 139:13-14)
The Holy Scriptures clearly present us with another explanation of ourselves. In contrast to being a randomly generated speck, we are told that God Himself made us, and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God did such a fabulous job in creating us that when we view ourselves as God sees us we will come away with a new appreciation of just how extraordinary we really are.
In tomorrow’s part II of this devotion we will share some fascinating scientific evidence to back up the claim that you indeed are extraordinary.