July 21, 2008

We Serve the God of Details

I recently read an amazing book that I would highly recommend. It is called, “Billions of Missing Links” by Geoffrey Simmons (Harvest House publishers). The book is a rational and detailed look at hundreds of incredible mysteries in the natural world that evolution just can’t explain. I found it to be fascinating.

The author’s purpose is to make a compelling case for intelligent design (creationism) and I believe he does an outstanding job of proving his point. But it was the myriad of details about the intricacies of the animals, birds, fish, plants and even the forces of nature that intrigued me. Although I do not have a strong scientific background, I came away with a sense of amazement of how it all works together making for a well run and orderly universe. (Just like the scripture says in Col. 1:16-17.)

And in the middle of the book, I had one of those “big picture” thoughts. Wow – we serve a God of details. Not only are we humans “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14), but so is everything else in the universe. God has made certain that everything in nature has what it needs to flourish. Each creature has a remarkable system for communication, defense and reproduction. No detail has been overlooked. Nothing has been left to chance. Our God is the God of details!

For just one example, consider how a child is born. At some moment dictated by the creator, a hormone leaves the unborn baby’s brain and travels across the placenta and enters the mother’s pituitary gland. It’s the signal to get the “show on the road”. The baby’s heads shifts downward, the uterus of the mom is ready to squeeze the baby along. Endorphins flow to help mom with the discomforts of the birth. Her vagina secretes a special coating to prevent infection. The pelvic bones loosen to help the canal expand. Since the baby’s skull bones have not yet fused, their large head is pliable enough to move through. The baby’s adrenal glands send out a burst of stress hormones to help them cope. And maybe most amazing of all just before the actual birth, the infant sends some of its own stem cells back into the mother’s bloodstream. These cells appear to be left behind as a means to maintain mom’s health. The baby needs her to be healthy in order to survive. (For these and other facts see pg. 11-13.)

What a chain of incredible miracles with no minute detail overlooked. From the very first moments of life, we can see the precision of God at work!!

If that is true (and it is!), why do we have such difficulty trusting Him with the other details of our lives? I might suggest that it is because we have forgotten the message in the first few verses of Psalm 139 where the psalmist states, “O lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down, you are familiar with all my ways.”

Go ahead, trust the God of all details with yours!

Warmest regards in Christ,
Sherry L. Worel
Stoneybrooke Christian Schools