Daily Devotional – April 25

Design

It is often stated that belief in God is a “leap of faith.” Yet, the Bible, from the Old Testament (Psalm 19:1-4) to the New Testament (Romans 1:18-23), clearly states that the reality of God’s existence is absolutely apparent to everyone, everywhere -- simply by observing creation. In other words, creation could only exist if a Creator made it.

The September 2013 journal Science describes a set of perfectly formed gears at the base of a lowly 2 mm-long leafhopper nymph. This creature has the ability to jump several inches using a mighty thrust from its hind legs that propels the creature with an acceleration of nearly 400 G (fighter pilots risk blackout if accelerating much past 10 G). This feat would be equivalent to a man accelerating from 0 to 200 mph in less than a second and jumping 400 feet in a single bound!

What makes the leafhopper’s feat even more amazing is that the nerve impulses cannot travel fast enough to allow both legs to push off in a coordinated fashion – meaning that with every hop, the insect should spin out of control. So how did the Creator solve this problem? He added a set of interlocking gears to the base of the leafhopper’s legs so that they are forced to move in exact coordination.2 This design is currently being studied as a prototype for new kinds of high-speed, directional gears. The marvels of the microscopic world and the wonders of God’s creativity never cease. The belief that such a gear could “make itself” via random changes over time is equivalent to believing that a gear could be produced in a machine shop via random hammering of a piece of metal. When we see microscopic gears solving a leafhopper’s leap, we stand in awe of our Creator!

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

~ Psalm 19:1-3

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.