The Wonder of the Universe

Last week at church, the pastor told the story of the universe, the implausibility of it all, and he finished by saying, “You are the wonder of the universe.” And it got me thinking about how very true that is.

Life. What an unfathomable mystery. Even if it had never gotten past a single-celled bacteria, it would have still been the marvel of the universe. The whole of creation would have trembled in wonder because somewhere lost out in the Milky Way, near an entirely unremarkable star, on this tiny wet rock, life had been achieved. There was something out there that did more than exist; it intended. Even if just by instinct or genetic coding, it willed a thing and then did it, instead of having everything done to it. And nothing, no supernovae, no galaxy, no gas giant comes close to being that magical.

But life didn’t stop there. This little planet we’ve got here, this tiny nothing in the vast expanse of space, is the most marvelous thing imaginable. We take it for granted, maybe, that every single bit of life that surrounds us, from a weed to a snail to a redwood to a dolphin to each other, is a miracle. A thing that should not exist but does. A thing that, if we ever were to encounter it somewhere other than here, would cause probably the biggest celebration the world has ever known. Because life is celebration-worthy. Life is the miracle of miracles. If you actually sit down and think about it, I believe life is the biggest proof of God we have. To me it’s pretty irrefutable, though of course people will always try.

So there’s life. And then there’s us. This wondrous form of life that can contemplate life. That can think and reach beyond itself to love or to empathize. That can ponder and invent and imagine. That will dare to ask, “Why?” and reach out to grope for a relationship with God. Wonder of the universe indeed. My friend, you are the miracle of all miracles.

But He didn’t just want any old humans. God selected us. Ephesians 1 talks about how we are chosen.

Ephesians 1: 4 – 6 (ESV)

 ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 

I think this really came into focus for me the other night as I was browsing facebook and came across some pictures of a friend’s new baby girl. She was completely unplanned, in fact she came along at a very inconvenient time, when this couple was actively trying not to have kids. Yet she snuck through. And I was sitting there looking at these pictures thinking, “God wanted her.” There were trillions and trillions of combinations of children that her parents could have produced. Only one was this little girl. She had to happen at exactly the right time, no other combination would have produced her. So she came along a little unexpectedly.

Each of us is so special, so anticipated, so madly loved. You are a wonder. You are a miracle. You are a delight to the God of the universe. Try not to forget it.