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“Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways. “Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it. Proverbs 8:32-33
After wisdom has spoken to us about all that God has done and how wisdom has not only watched creation, but God created manifesting that very wisdom in all that He made - now God makes an appeal that we walk by wisdom. Since we have compared God's wisdom to the thinking and mindset involved in evolutionary therory - we will once again compare the way this worldview and philosophy compares to that of God's wisdom as well in the conclusions we come to at the end of this chapter of Proverbs. Wisdom offers an exhortation, through the father, to his sons. Just a quick hit here, dads. It matters what you believe about origins. It matters what you teach your sons - and it matters what philosophy they wind up seeing life through as they live their lives. If you have the wrong view of origins - you will wind up with a philosophy of life founded on false precepts. This in turn will lead you and your sons to make bad decisions in life. Wisdom says through the father that the ones who keep the ways of wisdom will be blessed. They will have a wise foundation which in turn will lead to a blessed way of life. God tells us that this world is NOT an accident. It is His creation – and it functions according to laws that He has set in place. He then revealed Himself to His creation and gave them His Word. This revelation of Himself gives us the purpose for which we are to live – and very specific morals which we are to embrace. We are made for God’s glory – and His pleasure. Therefore we have a very strong purpose in life. We know that the answers are going to be found in God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible. We know that we are made for God’s glory – and that when we live for His glory our lives will be filled with meaning and purpose. That is why God can say to us that we need to listen to Wisdom – heed God’s instruction – and keep God’s ways. When we do – we will be blessed. The other option is that of evolutionary theory. The enlightened ones in the scientific area who hold to this view get very offended when we press them on the ramifications of what this view means philosophically. They want to tout their superior education which has brought us such so-called scientific enlightenment on matters concerning the origin of the earth and space. The problem is that their pseudo-science makes for horrible philosophy and absolutely no reason to live. Let’s explore why this is so. One’s origin matters – because it tells us much about what purpose there is for that person. Purposeful origin means a life filled with purpose. But an origin that is chalked up to pure accident and utterly random chances does not make for a pleasant ride when it comes to a philosophy of life. The reason Christianity has morals and purposes is because God, Who created us, gave them to us in His revelation of Himself (which also contains the revelation of our origin – which is Him). But what purpose is there for a being – or a world – that happened due to completely random chance? Actually, there is no meaning or purpose in such a situation. Philosophically – you wind up with Nilhism – if you are going to be philosophically honest. If you try to account for some moral code – or some purpose in that world – you are fudging. There are no morals in a purely Darwinian world. There is no purpose for a purely Darwinian world. You are left with no reason for existing – no reason for living – and no basis upon which to conclude that a moral code exists. You are left with the survival of the fittest. You are left with a motivation for pure survivalism. Therefore whatever will make for the survival of your species – DO IT! If a race or a group is in danger of polluting the gene pool – exterminate it. To leave it in tact makes no sense whatsoever if you are wanting to advance the evolution of your species. Therefore – according to evolutionary thinking and the honest philosophy that comes out of it – Hitler was doing the world a favor in exterminating the Jews – especially if, as he said, they were an inferior race. Any kind of code by which someone should live, that goes against the ultimate survival and advance of your genetics to the next level – should be soundly rejected. This is HONEST philosophy according to an evolutionary view of origins – and it really ticks off the evolutionist to face it. But the truth is the truth. This is why issues about our origin are important. They can determine how we live – and whether we have any meaning or purpose as we do. To ignore these things is to ignore the happiness that can be ours when we know the truth. Our other option is to admit that there is NO truth – at least upon which to build a worldview and its subsequent moral code by which one lives. There is only random emptiness and a dark void where things like meaning and purpose are not only rejected – they just do not exist.
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Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men. Proverbs 8:31
What is important about the earth? What is important in the universe? Is there something about the current ecosystem of the earth, and for that matter the universe, that should be more important than anything else? That particular question is very important because there are arguments that are being proffered today that the system itself is most important. This leads to conclusions that make many in the "Green Movement" state that we need to seriously deal with the problem of overpopulation in our world. They hold that humans have become too populous and that the resulting problems caused by . . . us, should be dealt with by depopulation efforts such as the one child only policies of China - as well as forced abortion. Some even speak of ways that the human population can be culled to lower levels. Granted these are the more extreme in the movement, but still such ideas gain traction because false premises continue to be promoted among thinkers - and eventually accepted in society. So we come back to the question of whether anything is more important than the ecosystem itself? God speaks to this in the way that Wisdom informs us about the creation and what God valued in it. If God created wisdom itself, then we should see the priorities of God reflected in what Wisdom values and what Wisdom delights in the world that currently exists. What we find in Proverbs chapter 8 is a fascinating statement made by Wisdom about what wisdom considered most valuable - and most delightful. Wisdom rejoiced in "His earth." This is the first revelation to us. The earth is the Lords - and the fullness thereof. God owns earth - it is His. He created it, and as its Creator - He owns it and can define for us how we should view it. What is interesting is that Wisdom speaks of the world and the earth. The words used here speak of the "inhabitable portions of the earth. These are the places on earth where man dwells. The Hebrew word for world is "betabel" which comes from the root word "yabal." This word is used for the inhabited places of the earth. Specifically it is used to speak of places like Jerusalem and Babylon - thus pointing to the fact that it speaks of the areas of the earth where men dwell. This fits perfectly with the next statement made by Wisdom - the fact that Wisdom delighted in the sons of men. Now let us consider what this means. God's wisdom rejoices in the inhabited parts of the world - where men dwell. Wisdom delights in the sons of men - and the Hebrew word used to describe this is about as intense a word as can be used to describe this delight. It is an super astounding intense delight that God's manifest wisdom has in men. This, along with the way God makes it clear in the creation accounts that man is the crowning creation of all God made, finds itself in complete contradiction to the view that the ecosystem is what is ultimate. God made this world for His glory. But His glory is seen clearest in man - whom God made in His own image. The work that God is doing in the earth is for the sake of bringing man to repentance and redemption through the salvation He provided through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore - the ecosystem is not what is most important. Man is what is most important. What will blow your mind is that God told man to be "fruitful and multiply,and fill the earth." This runs counter to the whole environmental movement. Now please understand that God does not give man the freedom to destroy the environment with foolish and overtly destructive behavior. God calls us to act with wisdom in what we do - but He also gave us the freedom to exploit the earth's resources for the benefit of mankind. It truly is a radically diffrerent worldview than usually promoted by the world and its dominant philosophies. There is one thing that also should be touted here that often is lost in the battles among competing philosophies about the world. The Bible teaches us that this is a fallen world in which we live. It is fallen because mankind has rebelled against God and His ways. The number one resource that should concern us most IS man. Lost humanity needs to hear the message of the gospel - needs to repent - and needs to be redeemed. The gospel instructs us to glorify God chiefly - proclaim His message of salvation - and seek to bring men and women to Christ. When we learn to live with this as our center - with this as our ultimate goal - we will join with true wisdom and also find our delight in God's world - in delight also in the redemption of the sons of men. Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Proverbs 8:30
As we come to the close of this section of Proverbs that relates for us the viewpoint of wisdom as God created this world, we come to a description of this process that begs a very fundamental question. I will pose this question in scientific terms. Was the second law of thermodynamics a fundamental part of this world immediately after the fall - or did this law only come into place after our world had fully developed into what it is today? Why would I ask such a question? It is because those in the field of Physics (and honestly every other field except philosophy nowadays) tell us that there is a fundamental law at work in our world that says that things go from a state of order to disorder. Said another way - the world around us - and we ourselves - are gradually falling apart and getting into a more disoriented state every day. This is the second law of thermodynamics. The reason I say that this question begs to be asked - is because for evolutionary theory to be right as an explanation of origins of this world - this fundamental law would have to have been suspended for billions of years. Instead of things moving from order to disorder, evolutionary theory states that things are getting better and better. There is another reason why this question begs to be asked, and that is because of what God says about His work of creation - even here in Proverbs 8:30-3. Here we read that wisdom worked beside God as a "master workman." The term here means someone who is a master artificer - or a master builder. Thus this presents a very difficult problem for those who would like to fuse God with evolutionary theory for their understanding of origins. The fundamental problem is that God represents creation as a work of perfection. In Genesis we read that everything God made was good. He did not make something and then decide that it needed to be continually improved over billions of years. He said that the way He made it was good. This means that it was perfect - until the fall of man into sin. At that point we see that things begin to deteriorate quickly. There is a fundamental breakdown of what God made as good - as sin - and as death enters into our world. There is a fundamental breakdown of DNA so that diseases and problems result. God's version of origins is that things were made good - but sin has caused a systematic breakdown of all things as they move toward more death and more disorder. What I find fascinating about all this is that God's view of things fits perfectly with the second law of thermodynamics. Things are - and have pretty much always have been moving from tha state of order to disorder. God explains this by introducing us to the event where man sinned and grieved God - and death entered into our world. Under the description that wisdom gives us things fit quite well with the "laws" of the universe. But that should not really shock us all that much - because just one verse earlier we had learned that these laws were written by none other than our God Himself. Amazing how those things go together isn't it? When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Proverbs 8:29
Wisdom tells us that when God made the world, that He did so by making the sea with a boundary that the sea could not go past permanently. In Job 38:8-11 God spoke of this to Job saying, "Or Who shut in the seas with doors when it burst out from the wombn, when I made clouds its garment and a thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall yur proud waves be stayed.'" In Jeremiah 5 we read that God placed the sand as a perpetual barrier that the ocean would not pass - though it's waves toss and they roar. The scientist might scoff at this, saying that the height of the land mass determines whether it is above or below sea level. That is true - but how does this work on a planet that is spherical - where its flatness is not the measure of all things. Yet, were it not for gravity - the waters of the earth would run to the southern most parts of the earth - and honestly - would run out into space, making this planet utterly uninhabitable. Now, I can hear the scientific types laughing in the background as I state this - yet I have a question for them. Their laughter is because they would view me as a moron - who knew nothing about gravity. Therefore my question to them is this, "How did we get the basic law of gravity - or for that matter - any of the laws upon which our orderly planet functions? Here is my point. Wisdom tells us that God is the One who set the boundary for the waters. He told us earlier that He is the One who make our earth circular - and made it to where the waters would conform to that circular pattern. He did not use the word gravity - but that is what He is describing. In this same passage where God speaks of setting boundaries for the sea - God also speaks about marking out the "foundations of the earth." The word "mark" used here is the Hebrew word "haqaq" which means to inscribe or engrave something. The word was used of marking and stating decrees - writing them down. The idea here is not that God set up some kind of foundation for the world - like we would build a foundation for a house. For that a different world would need to be used. God says in Job that He hangs the world on nothing - describing gravity wonderfully. Here what God is telling us is that there are inscribed decrees that God has given that makes the world function like it does. This same word is useed to speak of the written decrees of God. Let us go back to the reality that there are "laws" written into the very fabric of the universe in which we live. Scientists did not write these laws - but their orderly experiments have allowed them to discover these laws. We even call them "laws" - with such names as the law of gravity - the first and second laws of thermodynamics - as well as numerous other laws by which the universe itself functions. In every world except that of the evolutionist, the idea of an orderly universe with remarkably orderly laws coming in a completelly random fashion with no author behimd them, is crazy. For there to be a law - there has to be a law-giver. For their to be a decree - someone has to have made that decree. And for the waters to obey laws of gravity - someone had to command that law - and therefore command that water adhere to such a law. The statement of wisdom therefore makes far more sense than that of the pseudo-scientist. It makes more sense because wisdom recognizes that behind the inscribed foundational statements of this world (which includes that which establishes gravity and the whole idea of "sea level") is the Master and Commander - who wrote them. He enforces them each and every day - simply by the exercise of His almighty will. What does NOT make sense is to ask someone to believe in an astoundingly ordered universe with laws and structure - that came from no one - using no intelligence - and yet forming a world in which genius level scientists find themselves completely blown away by its glorious wisdom and intelligently ordered ways. “When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, Proverbs 8:27
What does God's wisdom have to say about the heavens and the earth? What would God's wisdom have to say to even other issues - like say - gravity and the way our earth not only looks - but the way it functions? Some criticize the Bible because of statements and beliefs that churchmen of the past have held. Among these are the views that the earth was flat. What we might have to ask is whether these churchmen were coming to these conclusions due to a study of the Bible, or were they coming up with conclusions from their own imaginations and thinking? The wisdom that God created before He made the world testifies that God was the one who established the heavens. He was the one who set them in place. Elsewhere in the Bible we read that God states that He hung the world on nothing. This statement went against early scientists who did not yet understand the whole idea of gravity or how it worked with various gravitational pulls in the universe. Yet we find the Biblical record very consistent with how things actually are in our universe. The second half of this proverb states that God had "inscribed a circle on the face of the deep." This speaks of how the earth looks and functions - and amazingly - how gravity affects our planet. The word "inscribed" is actually a word that speaks of writing or carving words into something - and it spoke most often of the writing of laws and decrees. God wrote something into the very existence of the earth. There was a circle written into the waters of the earth - which was what this term, "the deep" meant when used in Scripture. According to the wisdom of God - the earth should take the form of a circle or sphere. This is because of what God had inscribed - or written into how the earth functions. What is spoken of here is the law of gravity. The gravity which functions all over our planet comes from the very cener of our planet - which tends to pull all things to that center. This is why when you look at our globe - all the water does not run off the bottom of the planet when it should rush there. Instead you see gravity pulling all things towards tthe center of the earth - thus making our earth a globe. The water responds to the law or inscribing of the Lord which holds all the waters in place. What I find fascinating is that long before earth's fallible scientists ever grapsed gravity - the wisdom of God spoke of a situation where a round planet would be able to have water all over it - all equally held as gravity pulls all things toward the center of this planet. Thus we have a circular world - with the ability to have things pulled toward it equally from every direction. This is what the wisdom of God tells us long before Newton ever propounded on gravity or any of its laws. The reason for this is because God, who created this world, spoke of something like gravity over a thousand years before man ever fully understood how this world works. It works - according to God's wisdom. The churchmen who postulated such preposterous theories as a flat earth - should have been better students of the wisdom of God. Then they would have gotten things right - or at least biblical - but to be honest they are both the same thing. "While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world."
Proverbs 8:26 Wisdom was also there before God made the earth, the fields, or the very first dust of our world. Here again the Lord reveals not just His wisdom, but also the truths that He created this world because of the facts that He lays down for us. This has to do not just with the mighty mountains and their formation, but also of the manifestation of something as simple and unnoticed as dust. If God made the world that we see and all that is in it by the Word of His power - by simply speaking it into existence - the earth would be relatively young. It would not have taken billions of years for all this to come together - it would have taken less than 10,000 years. And if God had created this world by His wisdom, which He made and manifested before He created all this - then the world around us would reflect that wisdom and understanding in what we find on this earth. Thus, we turn to the issue of dust. Dust comes from many sources - from erosion due to wind and also due to volcanic eruptions on the earth. Some of our dust even comes from the solar system and its doings - and we are told some is even from comets, meteorites and space dust. Altogether, scientists have measured the dust that we experience and have come up with a figure around 43 million tons of dust that fall on the United States alone. This measures our to about 40 lbs. of dust per home. The problem that this causes for us is that we don't have enough dust on the earth to account for billions of years. If the first dust of the earth came during creation only several thousand years ago - then we are right on target for dust accumulation. Scientists argued that other factors in our atmosphere and planetary history could account for our horrific lack of dust. But when we went to the moon, we went to a place where these factors would not be present. Thus as moon exploration was planned, one of the things that they were deeply concerned about was the depth of space dust that our astronauts would experience upon landing - and in navigating the moon. Concerns of literally feet of dust into which our lunar vehicle would sink were considered. When we landed though we found an embarrassing lack of dust once again. Actually, we who believe in a young earth creation were not embarrassed at all - because dust levels were consistent with a universe that is vastly younger than the billions of years concocted by the evolutionists. The dust levels testified of a world created by God only thousands of years ago - which His wisdom testified to in Proverbs to us quite plainly. It truly is a wonder to see the wisdom of God borne out again and again in what God has made - so that the world around us is without excuse in their rejection of God and of His truth in the Bible. It is almost as amazing as the efforts to which fallen man will go in trying to reject that same wonderful wisdom by thinking up ridiculous theories that will allow man to continue in his rebellion and lack of acknowledgement of God. "Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth. Proverbs 8:25
It is taught that the mountains that we now see are a result of tremendous forces equal to a thousand times the power of earthquakes that we experience today. Consider for a moment the power necessary to shoot Everest over 29,000 feet into the atmosphere. When the mountains were being formed there had to be upheaval unlike anything we can imagine - and yet wisdom was there when it happened and when the mountains themselves settled and found their current place. Often at the base of these giants there are hills that arose as well - some saying that they were the wrinkling of the earth from the shock of the mountains themselves. One of the interesting problems that old earth evolutionists (and old earth creationists too) have is the amazing lack of erosion on the major mountain ranges of the world. If these massive formations were as old as evolutionary theory suggests, there should be far more wind and weather related erosion on them. From what we actually see, these major ranges are honestly . . . rather young. Some say they may be as young as 7000-10,000 years old. This would put them within the age range of biblical creation if we accept a young earth version of creation like the Bible depicts. Even more amazing is the way that the Scriptures portray the flood - with one of the final events being the covering of the mountains with the flood waters. Once again, the wisdom of God is either going to be clearly refuted by what we see on these mountains - or God will be seen as true. What we find is truly amazing. There seems to be indicators even at the highest levels of our mountains of a worldwide flood. But there are also other indications of real problems with an old earth (meaning billions of years) view of our world. That has to do with "dust." But that will be a topic for tomorrow's Proverb of the day. Wisdom was born before these mountains were settled and the hills brought forth. God's wisdom was there to direct all this activity as the topography of the world was first formed. I know this may shock some, but the account of God's Word and the timing and way these wonderful giants were made - is amazingly consistent. Why it is almost as if the wisdom of the One who gave us the biblical account is as if an eyewitness were there. Hmmm - maybe He was . . . just maybe He was. "When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no springs abounding with water. Proverbs 8:24
Wisdom existed before the depths. When there were no springs that abounded with water - wisdom was there. What we have before us in Proverbs 8 is a treasure trove filled with information about creation itself. We also have a situation where God has in effect thrown down the gauntlet and challenged the psuedo-scientists who say that the world was not created by an outside intelligence or power - to do a better job of explaining things on our planet than wisdom does. The term "depths" here is the Hebrew word "tehom" which refers to a depth or a deep place. In scripture it is most often used to speak of the primeval ocean like in Genesis 1:2. Later in the flood narrative it refers to the depths of the oceans as the fountains and springs there burst open to aid in the rising flood waters. If therefore the Bible is true - and accurate about scientific matters - there should be very deep recesses in the oceans of the earth where there are fountains and springs that can put forth tremendous amounts of water. If these representations of the ocean depths are accurate - it would tend to make us think that God created the earth in accordance with the wisdom that He "brought forth" before this world was brought forth itself. Most of what we know (which by the way is not that much) about the ocean depths has been learned in the last 50 years. Due to the tremendous pressure at the deepest levels of the ocean, man has not been able to explore these regions. Also the development of sonic exploration devices that bounce waves of sound off the bottom of the ocean, we've been able to do far more mapping of the depths than ever before. What have we learned? Well . . . scientists should blush to admit - but the ocean depths pretty much look like what God describes for us in Scripture. There are tremendous depths to the ocean upon which there are entire underwater mountain ranges. There is volcanic activity - and massive fountains and springs that are pumping amazing amounts of water into the ocean itself. If this is embarassing enough, scientists have also been amazed that the sentiment at the bottom of the ocean is so . . . little. Their estimates of billions of years for the age of the earth should have been verified by a tremendously deep amount of sediment on the bottom of the ocean. What they have found instead is that the sediment is only consistent with an earth that is far younger than they estimate. The sediment would reveal an earth only thousands of years old rather than billions. Why should we listen to God's wisdom? One reason to do so is because God makes some pretty outrageous statements about the ocean floor. For thousands of years we had no real scientific way of verifying these statements. These statements could only be verified recently because it took man that long to catch up to what God already knew. What we've found is that God, who calls Himself a God of truth, is true. That is no shocker to me - but might be to many whose tendency is to doubt and dishonor Him. What all this does for me is remind me why I should pay much closer attention to everything He says and commands. He is wise - and He has created wisdom itself. Therefore I need to listen, obey, and honor Him. "From everlasting I was established, From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. Proverbs 8:23
What were things like before the beginning - and even in the very beginning of time, space, and creation? The world would have us believe that all things were chaos - with a huge universe originating explosion followed by nothing more than random events that came together to form life (even though this completely contradicts the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics). What is interesting is that this particular passage in Proverbs 8 definitely contradicts the world's view of things. We read that wisdom was established from everlasting. The terminology used here speaks of a time before time itself. We read first that it was from everlasting - and then again it was from the beginning - and from the earliest times of the earth. All these phrases point us to Genesis chapter 1 and the creation account. Thus God "established" wisdom from before time itself or at least as time itself began. This tends to directly contradict the whole idea of a huge explosion followed by a random, unintelligent, and if you will "unwise" period of billions of years - with nothing driving the world but mere chance. What we have instead is that there was glorious intelligence and wisdom that was present from the very beginning of creation itself. We also read that this marvellous wisdom was "established" from the very beginning. The word used here means to consecrate. There is a two-fold idea presented here. First is that God poured out wisdom as one would pour out anointing oil - thus pouring out the glorious wisdom and super-genius level intelligence that is seen in the design of nature itself. Second, we have the idea that as God created wisdom - it was set apart - it was different because it came from God Himself. It was not random and unintelligable. It was radically distinct and clearly seen as something that had been set in place. What are we left with then as we look at the beginnings of wisdom? We are left with the realization that if this world around us seems to have an intelligence behind it. If there is an apparent design in our universe - that would fit the Biblical narrative like a hand in a glove. God said that as He began all things, the first thing He made was wisdom itself. Then all that came forth as He made time, space, and all of creation mirrors His glorious wisdom and understanding. But, if we simply see randomness - with no real purpose, no real design, no real structure for our universe or even our own highly complex bodies - well, then that would resemble a random universe that came together purely by chance. What we see in the universe - and in creation and our bodies screams to us that there is an intelligence - an intelligence of super-abounding, infinite genius that is behind what we see in the world and in the universe. The precision of the stars and of all that is in space could never have come about randomly. The astounding complexity of every aspect of nature - from the microscopic complexity of a single cell, the the mind-boggling complexity of the human body with its myriad of systems all functioning perfectly together - leaves no doubt in our minds. The only way one could doubt is if they rejected God outright and therefore had to come up with the most unplausible of concepts of a random universe which winds up with an incredibly complex, ordered system at every level of life. The truth is God made wisdom - at the very onset of His creative work in making the universe around us. That wisdom is then seen in even the minutest of details of life at the nuclear level. But then again that is what we would expect if there was a God - and if God chose to reveal Himself to us in nature first - and then through His Word - and ultimately in His Son. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made both of them.
Proverbs 20:12 Yesterday we looked for a few moments at the seeing eye. We learned how the eye points us to God - a God who created us by His infinite wisdom and understanding. Today, we want to take a look at the human ear - and see how God again reveals His power, glory, and amazing work through it. It is my belief that these two organs alone should bring evolutionists to their knees in wonder and awe at what God made. But since this issue is not about proof, but about an unwillingness to acknowledge, thank, and submit to God, I do not think that the world of evolutionists will be abandoning their incredible faith in their pseudo-science to turn to God any time soon. One of the first things we should know about our ears is that they do far more than just hear things. They are our source of equilibrium - and what allows us to walk upright. Without our ears we would greatly lack balance and would not be able to stand or sit without losing our balance and falling to the ground. What is truly amazing about our ears is that they consist of three different parts - each with their own function in hearing and equilibrium. These parts of the ear first focus sound into a canal which operates by the way the air is bounced around by sound waves. Once inside the ear though, these air and sound waves hit our tympanic membrane - which most of you know as the ear drum. This is where the sound waves are turned from an air phenomena to a water-based impulse. Once the sound waves hit this drum - the waves produced by it work through three of the smallest bones and muscles in the entire human body. These three bones take these waves and interpret them, amplify them, and at times decrease them to where they can be passed on to a liquid medium where the sound will continue to be processed. This liquid medium is then moved through a circular canal filled with what looks like little tiny hairs. These hairs take the disturbance of the water in the middle ear and translate it into the various aspects of sound. Pitch, loudness, quality are all detected as the waves move through the watery canal - and even things like distance and direction are detected as well. These little hairs take these waves and code them into electrical impulses that are then sent along the auditory nerve into the brain. The reason we have two ears is that this allows us to hear in stereo - which in turn helps us deal with direction and distance of sounds that come to us. As all this is coded specially so that the brain can then interpret all these codes and allow us to know what is being heard. What is truly astounding is how sensitive our ears are to sound. Our ears can hear a mosquito buzzing - which I realize to many of us is not that much of a blessing. But when you understand that a mosquito buzzes at a level of one quadrahonth of a watt - it is amazing that we can detect that sound at all. One quadrahonth of a watt is 1/100 quadrillionth of the amount of power it takes to light up a reading lamp - yet with only that much power behind it, we can still hear this sound. The ability of our ears to detect different pitches is also astounding. The piano has over 100 keys on it, each representing a particular pitch, but the human ear has the ability in between each of these pitches to have multiple other pitches it can receive. The sensitivity of the human ear to do this is amazing to a degree almost beyond comprehension. The human ear takes energy in the form of sound waves and then translates it into mechanical energy as the sound waves are collected by the outer ear, moved into the ear cavity, and then strike the tympanic membrane. They are now no longer sound wave energy, but mechanical energy. As this mechanical energy moves through those tiny bones and muscles, it is translated into hydraulic energy in the liquid within the middle ear. This hydraulic energy is then moved through the circular cave of the ear where the little hairs are located. At this point the hydraulic energy of sound is translated by these little hairs into electrical energy over 30,000 neurons which make up the auditory nerve. Coded into electrical energy - they now move over the cable system of the auditory nerve which then carries these codes into the brain where they are decoded and we experience sound. To think this all happened by chance is the height of both arrogance and foolishness. Engineers who have looked at this incredibly complex system marvel at its precision and astounding abilities. What is even more incredible is that we havn't even touched upon the wax system within the ear which deals with impurities - or the way that equilibrium is maintained through the water helping us balance and walk upright - or any of the chemical reactions that have to take place in order for us to translate things in from the hydraulic to the electrical phase of hearing. These would honestly blow our minds if we tried to take the time necessary to understand them. What is truly astounding is that some refuse to see a designer in all this - only random, accidental happenstance. Once again the human ear blows our minds - and shows us the creativity of God as well as His ability to design systems which baffle engineers today. What we should come away with here is the realization that indeed God did create the seeing eye and the hearing ear. For those of us who are wise enough to see and hear such things from God - there is an aspect of worship that should come from such knowledge. |
 Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. 
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