A Prayer for Earth Day
By Jennifer Heeren
“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” - (Psalm 139:14)
The definition of faith is to believe in things that we cannot see. And God rewards and loves faith. But there is plenty to see that builds faith as well.
1. The Placement of Earth in the Universe
In space, stars often explode into supernovas. The Earth, however, is located in such a position that it doesn’t fall victim to devastating collisions with stars. Our moon also protects us from collisions with debris. Nearby Jupiter draws objects that have the potential to hit the Earth. In the universe, too many stars grouped together can cause immense radiation. The Earth only has a few stars near it so too much radiation isn’t a problem.
Somehow, our planet is placed in just the right position to protect it.
2. The Climate for Life on Earth
The Earth is just the right distance from our solar system’s sun—any closer and we as well as our water supply would burn up and any further we’d freeze. Even the tilt of our planet makes a huge difference. If it was tilted differently, temperatures would quickly rise or lower to extremes. The size the Earth is also just right to hold just the right amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide—both are essential to sustaining life.
The Earth is different from every other planet around it and it contains the perfect conditions for life.
3. The Intricacies of the Human Body
The human body has many, many parts and systems that work seamlessly to fight off problems and disease. For the most part, everything works perfectly without the person’s opinion or guidance. It takes seven octillion atoms to make up one human body. The eye has the equivalent of 576 megapixels. Even the smallest parts of us have a purpose. The pinky finger contributes to about 50 percent of the hand’s strength.
The body has a multitude of parts that work in sync.
And best of all, God didn’t just create a functional world, although that alone is huge. He also gave us the ability to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell so we could appreciate beauty as well as function.
It takes more faith to believe that an explosion alone created this perfect environment than it does to believe that an Almighty Engineer built it. When you throw a bunch of random things in a pile, you do not get intricate design. You get chaos. But when you engineer and design things, you come up with products that have a purpose and beauty too. The extreme details involved in life as we know it point extensively to a Creator who deserves to be praised!
A Prayer for Earth Day
Dear Creator God, on this Earth Day and all days, let me always be in awe of Your wonderful works of creation. I don’t want to take the details of the world You created for me for granted. Everything around me is wonderfully complex and splendid. You, Lord, are both an Engineer and an Artist that built a world to perfectly sustain life. But you didn’t stop there. You also made immense details that please all of our senses as well. There are beautiful things to see, sounds to hear, textures to feel, yummy food to taste, and even delightful aromas to bring us enjoyment. Thank you for the details of life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Editor’s Note: Content taken from “3 Ways to be Sure God Exists” by Jennifer Heeren. You can read that piece in full here. All rights reserved.
Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.
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