Day 4: The Parts Problem
Psalm 139:14 (NLT)
"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it."
Main Idea
Here's a question that quietly wrecks one of the biggest ideas in modern science: What happens when something can't work unless all of its parts are already there?
The theory of evolution says life started simple and slowly got more complex over millions of years. Simple organism, small change, better organism, small change, better organism. Up and up the ladder, one rung at a time. And honestly, that sounds reasonable—until you zoom in.
Dr. Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University, noticed something when he studied cells at the molecular level. He found that many systems inside a cell require every single part to be present and functioning for the system to work at all. Remove one piece and it doesn't work worse—it doesn't work at all. He called this "irreducible complexity."
Now consider that every one of the hundred trillion cells in your body contains three billion parts of DNA. Each cell is staggeringly complex, and it can't function in a state of lesser complexity. So the question isn't "What developed over millions of years?" The question is "How could any cell survive for ten seconds with less than all its parts?"
When something requires all its components to function, gradual assembly doesn't make sense. Design does.
What Else the Bible Says About This
- — How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all
- — The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth
- — By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place
- — For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything
Let's Apply This...
Look at your hand right now. Flex your fingers. That motion requires bones, tendons, muscles, nerves, and a brain sending electrical signals—all working simultaneously. If any one of those systems were missing, your hand wouldn't work "a little." It wouldn't work at all. Today, every time you pick something up, let it be a reminder: you weren't assembled by accident. You were designed. Thank God for one specific part of your body that works in a way you usually take for granted.
God's Message to You
"I didn't build you in rough drafts. There was no version of you that was half-finished and hoping for the best. Every cell, every molecule, every microscopic machine inside your body—I designed all of it, and I designed it to work together. When scientists look closer and closer at what I've made and find more and more complexity, that's not a problem for Me. That's exactly what I intended them to find. I am a God of detail, and you are My most detailed work."
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Prayer
Father, I am ridiculously complex—and I barely think about it. Hundred trillion cells, billions of parts of DNA, systems working together every second that I never even notice. Forgive me for how casually I treat the miracle of being alive. Today, help me see my own body the way You see it—not as ordinary, but as evidence of Your genius and Your love. Every heartbeat is a gift. Help me live like I believe that. Amen.
Reflection Questions
- Can you think of other everyday objects that don't work at all if you remove even one part? What does that tell you about how complex systems come into existence?
- The sermon pointed out that the more we learn about biology, the more challenged evolution becomes. Does new scientific discovery make you more confident in God or less? Why?
- Psalm 139:14 says you are "wonderfully complex." Do you tend to think of your complexity as something to be grateful for, or do you mostly take it for granted? What would change if you stopped and appreciated it more?