Created By God. Cared For By God.

By F. D. Adkins

Recently, my family and I went on vacation. My kids’ favorite part of the trip was the amusement park rides. Of course, I have shared my feelings about roller coasters before. I do not like rollers coasters or any ride that drops me or takes me upside down. Consequently, this eliminates just about every ride available. However, my favorite was the safari ride where we saw one of my favorite animals, the giraffe. We have taken this tour a few times over our past few vacations, and the giraffes always seem to steal the show. The last time we went, one giraffe actually walked in front of the bus most of the way as if he was guiding the tour. This year, the buses just had to stop because the giraffes were blocking the road and would not move.  We also saw elephants, hippos, alligators, and flamingos. Have you ever thought about the diversity and complexity of life?

Various scientists throughout history have come up with theories of how life began on earth. According to the article “Hypothesis About the Origins of Life” on KhanAcademy.com, one such early theory of how life derived from nonliving matter is that lightning sparked a chemical reaction with water, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen that filled the atmosphere. This chemical reaction supposedly created the first basic building blocks that make up living organisms. They thought these blocks of amino acids and sugars could have accumulated in the oceans. However, these building blocks were only monomers. The question is how these blocks could have come together to make a macromolecule. The article goes on to explain that one suggestion is that this water containing the amino acids and sugars could have splashed onto something hot like lava leaving behind a protein or that RNA polymers could have been formed through the building blocks being exposed to a type of clay. This left scientists with the problem of explaining how these polymers made more polymers because life has to reproduce. So, along came the idea that this RNA could have acted as a catalyst creating a chemical reaction to self-replicate copying its own genetic information. Another theory stated in this article is that organic molecules arrived on earth via meteorites.

As I read these theories and researched more articles, I just could not get past how farfetched these ideas seem to me. In my mind, every one of these hypotheses leads to more questions which lead to more questions. For instance, if lightning caused a chemical reaction, where did the lightning come from, and how did those chemicals get here? Where did the earth itself come from and these oceans that the amino acids formed in? Where did this meteorite come from?

You are probably wondering where I am going with this.  As I look at the different forms of life that surround us and all of the ideas that are brought about in this world to counteract the Word of God, I feel led to share how I know that God created the world and how I know that our sovereign, all-powerful Creator is not only real but cares for us.

First, let me explain how I know God created the world and all living things. Since the theories I listed above have taken a scientific approach, I am going to do the same. According to National Geographic’s article on “Biodiversity,” 8.7 million species of plants and animals exist on earth. Now, let’s take a look at just the human species for a moment and marvel at its design. We have a brain that processes, stores, and recalls information. This brain sends messages to and receives messages from the rest of our body. But more than that, we use our brains to be creative, from communication to imagination. On top of the brain, our body is equipped with multiple systems. The circulatory system keeps blood flowing through our body delivering oxygen to our cells. The respiratory system takes in air to obtain oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide. The digestive system absorbs nutrients from the food we eat that gives us energy. The lymphatic system helps keep us well by protecting us from sickness. And just think about our nervous system and all of those nerve endings in our body. We touch something hot, and immediately pull our hand away. We have 206 bones in our bodies and over 600 muscles. As I ran on the treadmill this morning, I thought about how our brain controls all of those muscles and increases my heart rate and breathing to get more oxygen to those muscles. If we are hot, we sweat to cool us down. If we are cold, we get chill bumps to warm us up. Now, I am no scientist, but I know that all of this did not derive from some amino acids and sugars that fell in the mud. Our bodies are complex designs with high-tech engineering. No two designs are exactly alike because we all are unique creations with different gifts and personality traits. For example, I like the safari tour, and my family likes roller coasters. So, to sum up, I have no doubt that God created the world and every living thing in it.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 KJV

“But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” Isaiah 64:8 KJV

Now, I am going to veer away from science and move to how I personally know that we have a loving, all-powerful God. Oftentimes, things happen that some may play off as mere coincidence. However, many occurrences have happened in my life that I know were God’s mighty work and not some random coincidence. I won’t list them all because I am certain I will need some stories for later posts. But here are a few.

• I accepted Jesus early in my teen years, but later in my teen years, even though I was saved, I did not feel that connection to God. I went to church pretty much because my mom made me. I struggled with feeling lonely and scared. But I remember this one Sunday morning when I knew without a doubt God was speaking directly to me. I do not recall the pastor’s sermon, but I remember he kept saying that he did not preach the sermon he had prepared. He would have to save it for another Sunday because God had it on his heart that someone needed the words he was speaking. I was that person. I knew God was telling me He was there…right there with me. Just like Jesus’s parable about the shepherd that left the ninety-nine to find the one sheep, God cared enough to change a pastor’s sermon for a whole church to comfort and make a real relationship with that one lonely sheep.

“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?” Matthew 18:12 KJV

• We lived in Maine when my husband accepted a job in South Carolina. He had one month to wrap things up in Maine before his start date with his new employer. We had to accept the fact that our house had to be sold before we could all move south because we had no one to watch over our house there, and we could not buy a new house until we sold our existing one. I was distraught at the fact that my husband was going to have to be that far away, and our family separated until our house sold. We called the realtor right away. She came out that night which was a Friday and filled out the paperwork. Saturday morning, the realtor phoned letting me know that there were two showings scheduled for Sunday. So, on Sunday, our family went on an outing allowing time for our house to be shown. Then, on Monday afternoon, the phone rang. The realtor gave me the unbelievable news that the first couple that viewed our home on Sunday had made a cash offer and had requested to close in less than two weeks. A prayer answered. Our family could all move together.

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.” 1 John 5:14 KJV

• As I have previously mentioned, both of my children are now teens. I have been a stay-at-home mom since my oldest was born, so the teenager transition has been a little difficult because I have always been accustomed to being with my kids and them going places with me. But, as you know, mom is no longer high on the list of people teens want to hang out with. So, one day early in the spring, my husband had already left for work, and I had already had my devotion pouring out to God because it was hitting me rather hard how little time I was getting with my kids anymore. And, like every day, I was getting some chores done while the kids were still sleeping. As I was mopping the floor at six o’ clock in the morning, I heard footsteps come down the stairs and a voice ask, “Why are you mopping at six o’clock in the morning?” It was my son’s voice. At six o’clock in the morning, God sent my seventeen-year-old son to spend time with me. We talked, played cards, and listened to Greg Laurie’s radio message.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 KJV

We don’t need to go out searching for answers. The answers are all found in God’s Word. Seek Truth from our Heavenly Father and have faith in the One that created us. He did not just hit a copy button. God made each of us a unique one and only masterpiece. If you stop and look around, you can see how Great is our God. If you open your heart, you can feel how Great is our God. Have faith! Think about these words said by Corrie Ten Boom.

“Faith is like radar that sees through the fog—to the reality

 of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.”

                                                                 —Corrie ten Boom

What God’s Word says about faith:

• “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 KJV
• “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV
• “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 KJV

Sources:

“Biodiversity.” National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/biodiversity/.  Accessed 26 Aug 2021.

“Hypothesis About the Origins of Life.” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/history-of-life-on-earth/history-life-on-earth/a/hypotheses-about-the-origins-of-life.  Accessed 26 Aug 2021.