By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Hebrews 11:3
In our modern world, the idea of faith just seems too hard to believe. If we can’t touch it, then it can’t exist. If we can’t figure it out, then there’s no possibility of it. If we can’t measure it, then it’s just dust in the wind and to be ignored.
The other thing we do is to look down our nose at the people from times past. They were so cute and dressed in funny clothes, but they certainly didn’t understand things the way we do. Maybe they could make great works of art, but when it came to science, technology, and understanding the universe, they were way behind the times. They were out to lunch.
We think that the people who lived in olden times were so inferior to us. The reason for this arrogance is because the march of science, mathematics, education, and technology gives us a giant advantage to these poor people who were trapped back in time. And that anything that didn’t come up in the last 100 years is so utterly out of date and old fashioned. And for all our knowledge and wisdom, we can’t seem to figure stuff out.
We “know” that the universe suddenly, and for no particular reason, exploded on the scene about 13.8 billion years ago. But where did all the protons, neutrons, and electrons come from? And why did they just choose that moment to explode when they hadn’t done anything for eternity past?
We “know” that life suddenly appeared here on Earth, but where did it come from? How did it get started? Did it appear out of a soup of chemicals or where hot water comes up after being heated inside the earth? Or did passing meteorites and comets drop off the stuff that made life possible?
The writer to the Hebrews is using creation as a simple yet powerful example of faith. We see the results all around us, but how did it get here? We can touch, smell, and taste so many things, but where did they come from? This requires us to have faith for them more than we need understanding.
Understanding is a whole lot more than just seeing and touching. It’s where our mind takes stuff in from our senses and then makes sense out of it. And while they may have had less details about the physical universe, they still understood it. They figured out ways to live in harmony with it.
Think about it this way. Faith has the power to see the unseen. To believe what hasn’t been proven in a test tube. What hasn’t been verified in a laboratory. Faith takes what can be seen and then fills in the blanks. Faith never denies what we see but tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together so we can complete the puzzle.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:3,4
When King David wrote these beautiful words and put them to music about three-thousand years ago, he didn’t need a telescope. He didn’t need a degree from a college or university. What happened with David can happen with you and me too through these three steps.
Observations. We take the time to look at what’s all around us. But this takes time. It’s more than just a quick drive by. We have to stay with the thing being observed for a while as we keep looking and looking for more and more observations. This is where we use all our senses to bring in information. Sights. Sounds. Tastes. Touch. Over and over, we’re making observation after observation.
Thoughts. This is where we take our observations and start to organize them. We’ll put some things together and see if they make some kind of pattern. If one observation always seems to happen after something else happened. It’s like separating puzzle pieces because they have something in common. You put all the pieces with a straight side into one pile. You then put all the blue pieces next to one another.
Conclusions. Sometimes these three almost come right after one another. Sometimes there’s long periods of time until we’re ready to start doing something with our observations and thoughts. Conclusions are sort of like faith where we take what we know and fill in some of the pieces. A conclusion is to take all the straight pieces and make the border. Or we’ll take all the blue pieces and make the sky.
The Hebrews are reminded that the visible universe was created by God. He’s unseen and took unseen stuff to make the seen universe. No one can absolutely prove anything about the creation of the universe. It always takes fuzzy faith. Either a faith that protons, neutrons, and electrons alone could come up with this beautiful and complex universe. Of that there’s an intelligent, loving creator God that spoke the universe into existence. Both choices require fuzzy faith. But wouldn’t you want the loving God to be the answer because then he can love on us. Give our lives meaning and hope.
Noodling Questions
Does faith sound like a fuzzy or firm idea? Explain.
Describe your reactions when you stop and look at creation.
How is faith in a living, loving God attractive to you? To our society?
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