I was sitting at my stall at the makers’ market, small smocked dresses laid out in front of me. Time and again I was asked, “Did you make those?”
Imagine the response if I’d said, “No, they developed gradually over billions of years—small random changes ended up with these finely crafted clothes.” Would anyone believe me? So why is there instant recognition that someone must have sewn an embroidered dress, but no recognition that so many, many other, far more complex things must have been made by some being?
In Psalm 19:1–4 the Bible says:
‘The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.’
On a starlit night, look up! What a glorious sight. The Psalmist says that the heavens do not speak, yet their voice goes out into all the world. The stars don’t call out, “Look at us, we were made by God!”, but it is as obvious as such a voice that they didn’t just happen by chance.
The apostle Paul writes: ‘For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made’ (Romans 1:20). God’s creative power should be obvious. One look around should be enough to tell us that someone great made all we see. Even the “simple” things like single-celled amoebas have been found to be much more complex than scientists ever thought. In contrast, my stitchery is really very, very simple. It takes me a long time and requires care and skill—but it is nothing compared to what we see around us. Have you ever marvelled at a peacock’s train of feathers, its iridescent blues and greens shining in the sunshine? The change of caterpillar into butterfly? The leaping of dolphins out of water? A cup of water? The list could go on and on.
Of course, you still need faith to believe that it was God Who created the world. The Bible acknowledges this: ‘By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible’ (Hebrews 11:3). What many people seem to overlook is that it also takes faith to believe that the amazing array of plants and animals, sea and land, sun, moon and stars all happened by chance!
Job was a godly man who suffered greatly. He struggled to understand why all these things were happening to him. Finally, God spoke to him and showed him how little he understood (Job chapters 38–41). God spoke of his own creative acts and asked Job if he knew how these things worked—the formation of rain, the patterns of the stars, the life of mountain goats and wild asses, of ostriches and horses. How does an eagle soar? God knows, because He made them all:
It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens (Jeremiah 10:12).
Who made the dresses? I did. Who made the world and all that fills it? God did.
The Bible is full of verses about creation—starting from the very beginning. Genesis 1 is the account of the creation of the universe and all that fills it. The chapter concludes with: ‘And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good’ (v. 31). It is very good. Much better than a little smocked dress, but equally showing that it had a maker, a Creator.
A few other verses (there are many to choose from!) include:
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host (Psalm 33:6).
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28).
You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you (Nehemiah 9:6).
For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:18).
Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created (Revelation 4:11).
Ruth Morgan