Psalm 104:5-7, 10-11, 14-15, 19-20, 24, 31 (NIV)
He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts. He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl. How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
In 1859, Charles Darwin released his infamous book, On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Its impact on our world—and Christianity more specifically— cannot be understated. When he set sail on his famous voyage to the Galapagos Islands in 1831 he was a sincere Christian who had prepared for pastoral ministry in college. By the time of his death in 1882, he was happy to call himself an “agnostic”—a word invented by his friend Thomas Henry Huxley to denote an inability to reach certainty about the existence or non-existence of God. The death of his father in 1848 followed by the death of his 10-year-old daughter, Annie, in 1851, became the nails in the coffin of his faith. And while he departed from Christianity, he never took the position that there was no god of some sort…and interesting fact, to say the least.
With the publication of Darwin’s theory, a certain percentage of rebellious mankind appeared to have a weapon by which they could do away with the restrictive rules of a judgmental God by eliminating the need for a creator in the first place. The theory took off like wildfire and was widely accepted as fact, rather than a proposition. Of course, in 1859 the scientific world saw the cell as a little black box, totally unaware of the intricate machines and information contained within. They knew little of micro-biology nor had they come into possession of all the facts surrounding the incontrovertible truth that the universe is remarkably fine-tuned as seen in such details as the gravitational constant, the mass of electrons, the cosmological constant, entropy of the universe, etc. Even Stephen Hocking, the famous theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and atheist, wrote that, “The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.”
No kidding.
Spurgeon called Psalm 104 “the poet’s version of Genesis” and rightfully so. It is a beautiful account of the realities that Charles Darwin and numerous others have tried to do away with…but to no avail. As Darwin’s theory continues to collapse the case for Intelligent Design—as seen throughout Psalm 104—only gets stronger. Modern science isn’t killing God but rather, making the case for his existence and genius. The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1) and we do well, not only to acknowledge the obvious, but to glorify the Lord and thank Him for his majestic creativity. From the estimated one septillion (a 1 with 24 zeros after it) stars in the known universe down to the water cycle that governs life on earth or the numerous factors that have to be in place and in order for our blood to properly clot…God’s handiwork is easily seen. The only question is: Will man give credit where credit is due?
