Week Two - Day Four: What We Believe
Clue #2: Our finely tuned universe.
Tim Keller calls this clue “the cosmic welcome mat.” Let me illustrate what he means before I explain this clue. When my wife Diane’s father was still alive her parents lived in a home in Winston Salem, N.C. This is the home where Diane spent her late elementary through High School years. Diane and the boys and I would try to visit at least once a year, usually making the long drive from Boston, MA – where we lived at the time. We would breathe deep sighs of relief and comfort every time we saw the sign for the North Carolina border. Diane would usually burst into song (something from an 80’s tourism commercial promoting North Carolina’s treasures. It’s not worth remembering, but for the life of me I cannot forget it.)
As we made our way toward Winston, our sense of welcome grew larger and more palpable. But when we walked into the Dawson’s home, that sense was unmistakable and it felt very, very personal. Just the right meal was cooking on the stove. Just the right toys were prominently displayed, as far as I could tell, for just our boys. Rooms were appropriately laid out and just the right amount of beds were made. Lavish hugs were offered and back rubs were given all around. We felt overwhelmed with welcome! It was abundantly apparent to me that the Dawsons were not only expecting us, but were thrilled that we had arrived.
Now, one could argue that this sense of welcome was just a vague sense that belonged to mine and Diane’s experience. One could argue that Diane and I needed to feel welcomed and so we simply added up all the random indicators and decided to take it personally. Let’s take all of the certainty out of the argument and say that for some reason we could not interview her parents. So, without checking I suppose you could make the argument that these were random indicators of personal welcome that just seemed to us to be designed for us.
But given the overwhelming welcome that, by all appearances, was very specifically designed for a family exactly like us, and given that we arrived at what seemed to be exactly the time that the Dawsons were expecting someone, and given the reception that we actually did receive, it would be reasonable to argue for the fact that this welcome was absolutely and very personally for us.
Our World Was Perfectly Designed For Us
Do you see the point? Some have argued that the universe has offered just that kind of welcome for human beings. Our world is perfectly designed to have allowed for creatures exactly like us to appear at exactly this point in the life of the universe. Think of the physics which govern the world that welcomes our existence. The speed of light, the constant of gravity, the strength of the weak and strong forces within the atom – all of these are calibrated to within very, very narrow limits and in exactly the right relationship to one another to allow for our universe to hold together and to support the conditions which support life.
I like how Francis Collins put it:
“When you look from the perspective of a scientist at the universe, it looks as if it knew we were coming. There are 15 constants – the gravitational constant, various constants about the strong and weak nuclear force, etc. – that have precise values. If any one of those constants was off by even one part in a million, or in some cases, by one part in a million million, the universe could not have actually come to the point where we see it. Matter would not have been able to coalesce, there would have been no galaxy, stars, planets or people.1
Stephen Hawking has concluded “It would be very difficult to explain why the universe would have been begun in just this way except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.”2
While this argument does not prove the existence of God, it provides a powerful clue not only to His existence, but to His creative and governing activity over our universe! Maybe the author of Psalm 8 was a physicist. Maybe he was staring at the astounding scientific facts which point toward the reality of God and of His creation of our world. But probably he was a star-gazer who got caught up in God’s grandeur and wrote a song. Either way, perhaps you can relate.
Before You Start Your Day
- Read and linger over Psalm 8 right now.
(1) O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.(2) From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.(3) When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,(4) what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?(5) You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.(6) You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:(7) all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,(8) the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.(9) O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!- Let your mind wander away from the surface of the earth. (You’ve seen the pictures. You can do it.) Mentally write God’s name over the globe.
- Now turn the other direction and face the awesome expanse of space. Mentally write God’s name over that as well.
- What feeling is behind verses 3 and 4?
- Consider how you might use verses 3 through 6 to guide your thoughts occasionally today.
- Perhaps write them on a piece of paper and pull them out at intervals during the day.
- Perhaps try to commit them to memory.
- Ask God for a chance to discuss our clues with someone.
- Pray
- Acknowledge how big and majestic and grand God must be. But also marvel at His attention to detail.
- Brag about Him for a few minutes.
- Thank God for creating a place for you in His plans.
(1) Collins headed up the human genome project and wrote the book The Language of God. This quote comes from an interview on Salon.com.
(2)Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time
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