God Thought of It First

We build swimming pools. God made the ocean.

We spray our houses with air fresheners. God perfumes the air with roses and pine needles.

We make candles and light bulbs. God made the sun, moon, and stars.

We slide ice cube trays into the freezer. God makes glaciers, and blankets the earth with sparkling crystals of snow.

We invent dimmer switches to gradually turn down the lights. God makes the sun set ever so slowly on summer evenings while he adorns the twilight with shades of gold and pink.

We plug in electric fans and air conditioners. God made the desert wind and the ocean breeze.

We make furnaces and fireplaces. God uses the sun to warm the earth from above and magma to warm it from beneath.

We take pictures with cameras and videotape. God created eyes to behold and minds to remember what we see.

We buy carpets and tiles to cover the floor. God cushions valleys with prairie grass and wildflowers.

We construct houses and factories and top them with shingles. God makes mountains and crowns them with cedars, pines, and snowcaps.

We enjoy delicious food, and God made it possible by creating grain and meat, vegetables and fruit, sugar cane and cinnamon, cocoa beans and honey.

We dig wells and gulp down bottled drinks. God provided aquifers beneath the crust of the earth and pours life-giving water from the clouds.

We compose and perform music. God created sound waves and eardrums, fingers to strum and toes to tap.

We paint portraits and carve statues. God crafts sculptures in sandstone canyons and paints the sky at sunrise.

We build zoos and keep animals as pets. "God made the wild animals . . . the livestock . . . and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:25).

People studied for centuries to discover how to fly, but flight was a simple thing for God, who made cardinals and blue jays, eagles and hawks, bats and bumblebees, butterflies and hummingbirds, herons and storks, swans and doves.

The Creator wasn't surprised when we discovered electricity, radar, X rays, and chromosomes. He is not startled by our scientific discoveries. He has been waiting patiently for us to uncover them!

E-mail can send a message around the world in seconds. But since the dawn of time, believers' prayers have received notice and stirred action in the throne room of Heaven.

"There is nothing new under the sun," a wise teacher observed long ago (Ecclesiastes 1:9). That's because what we call inventions are mere imitations of the handiwork of God.

Maybe that's why, even in the midst of his suffering, Job found comfort from observing nature. "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you," Job said, "or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?" (Job 12:7-9).

The philosopher C. S. Pierce said it well. His "humble argument" for the existence of God goes like this: "Take a walk in the countryside and contemplate."