Last night we had a nasty hailstorm here. Having a rural background, I've always been fearful of hail and for a time was certain we would lose windows and have roof damage. Fortunately the windows held up and an adjuster will soon tell us about the roof.
People have always been wary of the weather. Indeed, humans have always been at the mercy of cosmic forces greater than themselves. But considering what it requires to have a balanced earth and solar system, it's amazing we don't have things far worse. For complex life to exist here, dozens of variables must be in perfect coordination: water, temperature, atmosphere, size and distance from the sun, radiation, gravity, large enough moon, size and number of other planets - to name just a few.
If our earth was just 1-2% closer or farther away from the sun as now, life would not be possible. If the earth we live on did not have every element necessary for life in its correct position and size and relationship with all other factors, complex life would either freeze or fry.
In recent years scientists have given us theories of the origin of the solar system, usually concluding it is the result of evolutionary selection that occurred over a massive amount of time. Given enough time and variables, they conclude, we have what we now have, a lucky combination fit for human life, a "Goldilocks" life where everything is "just right." Physicists like Carl Sagan say the earth is a "pale blue dot lost in a cosmic sea," a place of no special significance.
I disagree with that. Something greater than chance is involved here. In a short but valuable video (and book), "The Privileged Planet," astrophysicist Guillermo Gonzolas and philosopher Jay Richards state their belief that the earth occupies a rare and special place in the solar system that enables it to sustain complex life. They believe that simple molecular life may exist elsewhere, but complex life is possible only here on earth.
Albert Einstein once said, "I have deep faith that the fundamental principles of the universe will be both beautiful and simple." Countless Christians over the ages have had faith that God created life and the universe and placed human beings here to manage it. While those humans have been limited by Sin and lack of understanding, through the mercy of Jesus they have been given a second chance. God enables us to understand life (at least in part) and also to experience life with God in eternity - all by faith in Jesus.
The fundamental truth of the universe is the beauty and simplicity of God loving mankind in Jesus Christ. Psalm 8:1, 3-6, says, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth.... When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet."
In view of an amazing life on a privileged planet, that's my prayer today.
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