The Wonders of Everyday Materials
Isaiah 45:18
"For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I [am] the LORD; and [there is] none else."
Today, lasers do many important jobs in manufacturing and medicine in addition to serving in weapons that once existed only in the minds of science-fiction writers. But if our small imaginations can think of amazing things, we shouldn't be surprised to learn that our Creator's limitless imagination can think of even more incredible things. As science studies the handiwork of the Creator, we are learning about His imagination.
For example, scientists have recently discovered how to turn hydrogen – the simplest of all elements – into a solid. Hydrogen is technically a metal, even though it is a gas at most temperatures. Yet, scientists have expressed amazement at the complexity of this so called simple element. When compressed under 1.5 million atmospheres, near absolute zero, hydrogen becomes a solid metal – clear as glass!
Many people do not know that glass is really a liquid at normal temperatures. Your windows are even now flowing downward because of gravity. It's just happening so slowly that you would have to compare photographs of the same window taken a century apart to see the effect. And now scientists are working on metal films that are transparent to light. Perhaps someday we'll look out through windows of aluminum instead of glass!
Such amazing discoveries about seemingly simple, everyday materials show us that while humans may have imagination and inventiveness, our Creator has even more imagination than we could ever have!
Prayer:
Lord, nothing is too hard for You. The wonderful surprises we are finding in Your creation provide yet more witness to modern man that You, and not mindless chance, have designed everything in the material world. Let this witness draw more of our modern world to You and Your love for us in Christ. Amen.
Notes:
"Fashioning see through metal." Science News, July 8, 1989. p. 31. Photo: Gas giant planets such as Jupiter may contain large amounts of metallic hydrogen.
