Recently, we received two little rosebuds into our family. Our youngest daughter bore identical twin girls! No words can describe our relief, joy, and thankfulness that they arrived healthy and gorgeous.
As I gazed at their little faces, trying to find some tell-tale clue that would distinguish one from the other, I marveled at this double miracle. To form such twins, one fertilized egg splits, developing into two genetically identical babies.
The cells then begin dividing over and over. But it is not simply the dramatic increase from two cells to trillions; it is also the differentiation that produces the exquisite variety of cells in their little bodies.
I thought of the words in Psalm 139: “You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written” (vv 13-16). How true these words! And yet, that isn’t everyone’s response to the miracle of life.
It has been almost half a century since our first child was born. My young wife and I sat nervously waiting for our first prenatal class. Then our teacher walked in, wrote her name on the board, and turned to address us. “I’m an atheist,” were the first words she spoke. “But,” she continued, “every time I see a baby born, I have to fight real hard to be an atheist.”
Later I suggested that she might find it advantageous to stop fighting. The evidence is overwhelming. We know that information only comes from intelligence. And those little bodies of my new granddaughters are jam-packed with information. How much?
According to researcher Yevgeniy Grigoryev (PhD in gene regulation), “the approximate amount of data stored in the human body is: 1.5 Gbytes x 100 trillion cells = 150 Zettabytes (10^21)!” In other words, a lot.
So where did all this information originate? The Psalmist seemed to be referring to our genetic code when he wrote that our “substance” was “written” in God’s “book.” It’s amazing to think that each of us is an expression of the mind of God frozen in a moment of time.
I often have the opportunity to speak to children and I love to tell them that the code written down in every cell of their body tells us three things. First, you are the only one that will ever be made just like you. Second, God doesn’t make junk and there are no accidents—you have been wonderfully made. And third, it’s clear you were made for a special and unique purpose.
The Bible, the “Owner’s Manual” given to us by the Lord, will unlock the secret to our wonderful purpose if we let Him speak to us through its pages. The Psalmist continues: “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand” (vv 17-18).
Listen! God is speaking!
Religion Page article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch on Sunday, Jun 6, 2021.