Ben Fourie

“When the LORD God made the universe…” Genesis 2:4b (GNB)

Elohim - Lord God, and in this context, also Almighty Creator. I find it difficult to lie on my stomach these days, but do you remember the days when you were a child lying flat on your stomach watching the hustle and bustle going on at an ants’ nest? Every tiny ant, every grain of sand and every piece of a dry leaf they were carrying around was created by God. Yes, there certainly is evolution. The dry leaf probably comes from a plant species that did not even exist in the time of the dinosaurs. The ants probably look different as well, but every evolutionary change was built into his plan for his creation.

A few nights ago, we were looking at the night sky and I was pointing out some of the constellations like Orion and the Southern Cross to my two little granddaughters. I told them that each of the stars they could see is a sun like our sun. Stars emit huge amounts of energy in the form of light by fusing two hydrogen atoms into an atom of helium. These mighty engines, of which there are billions in the universe, are also created by God. When I light my little fire, the flame that cooks my food is stored sunlight. This also comes from God.

If we move to the quantum world, even the scientists who specialise in this field stand in awe before the workings of the tiniest building blocks of the universe. In this, the smallest parts that everything is made of, we can see His hand.

So much more when man was created. Recent paleoanthropological discoveries point to Southern Africa as the cradle of humankind. Evolution was surely also part of us, but behind it all, we detect the almighty hand of the God of Genesis. We are without a doubt, part of the mammal group of animals, but we are above all humans, because God gave us the breath of life, and in contrast to other animals, “man became a living soul”. (KJV)

Prayer: In unison with the poet who wrote Psalm 19, we want to praise you; “How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory! How plainly it shows what he has done.”  Amen