Tuesday, May 27
- Scripture: Proverbs 3:19 – “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place.”
- Reflection: Beneath the wildness and chaos we often experience, we can also find patterns and designs. Sometimes people call God a ‘process engineer.’ This describes activities such as creating, sustaining, and providing.
Writer Dominic Holster says, “Being made in God’s image helps to explain our creative and investigative skills, particularly when we consider that God has specially engineered this universe to reveal himself to human beings… Human beings are natural explorers. We are also natural engineers. From the time we are first able to comprehend our surroundings, we begin to apprehend the workings of the world, and harness them for our purposes. … Though it may be particularly pleasing when we are young and everything is new, people of all ages relish participation in acts of discovery and creativity. … We were made not only to seek and know truth, but also to apply that truth in meaningful ways… Furthermore, nature appears to be written in the language of mathematics, a complex set of abstract ideas that we are able to apprehend and apply with unreasonable effectiveness. Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner writes, ‘The enormous usefulness of mathematics is something bordering on the mysterious…there is no rational explanation for it…the miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.’ … Even chemical elements such as carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen, which formed in the interior of stars at just the right temperatures and pressures, enable life processes by combining with hydrogen to form molecules with just the right bond strengths. This arrangement allows these molecules to couple and decouple at just the right moments to support the machinery of life. … the ‘magic’ performed by the DNA molecule found in the nucleus of all living cells…. At an even more fundamental level, the initial conditions for the cosmos, the constants of physics, the values of the fundamental forces, and the very laws of nature themselves appear to have been engineered to have precisely the correct values and features to allow for the emergence and sustenance of life. This has come to be known as the ‘fine-tuning problem,’ since it is difficult to explain, as Stephen Hawking has written, ‘except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us…Several passages in the Bible describe God as if he is a “process engineer” refining his people like a precious metal in the furnace of affliction, or molding them like a potter molds clay on his potter’s wheel. Both of these pictures suggest an engineer who is intimately involved with his creation throughout the entire process. A modern process engineer who works in a refinery, for example, is involved in monitoring the product at various stages, and maintaining the appropriate conditions to achieve the desired outcome. Perhaps this is a more helpful picture of our Maker, who not only created us, but also sustains us and refines us as he holds all things together by his great power. Obviously, this model of our interaction with God falls short, as it fails to account for our role as free-will creatures that cooperate with our Maker in his creative processes….I believe the model of God as process engineer is ‘useful’ because it communicates his great mastery over the realm of nature, and links this exquisite expertise to the work he has promised to complete in each one of us.'” (full reference: https://biologos.org/articles/god-as-process-engineer-creator-sustainer-redeemer-and-provider)
We can observe, from the whorl of a shell to the spiral of DNA, God’s fingerprints in the world’s handiwork. We can consider these to be evidence of intentionality in the architecture of the world. Holiness seems evident in the intricate balance of the natural world. As we study and admire creation, we gain insight into God’s care, character and creativity.
Thinking of God as an engineer is optional. It is simply one way to connect with and understand Yahweh, who is bigger than our ideas, language, and ability to fully comprehend. Enjoy the comparison, if it helps you. - Spiritual Practice Prompt: Take time to observe something in nature you often overlook. Reflect on its purpose in the ecosystem and how it reveals God’s wisdom.
Song:
- The Earth Is Yours by Gungor: https://youtu.be/IOhPdqqWKKA?si=3MXvjjGC0vvCH2XM
“Nature is the art of God.” – Dante Alighieri
May 27 Spring Devotional