Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Monday September 15 2025
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Isaiah 45:18-For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I love the Fall season.
The cooler crisp air moving in, the falling of the leaves, the occasionally more frequent cloud bursts and rainstorms, hot chocolate…..on and on I could go!
Have you ever stopped to think about how our planet Earth is “just right” for humans to exist? Nature is a balancing act of amazing proportions, which if changed slightly would make life impossible.
Consider one example:
“For instance, in 1981 Science Digest reported that the earth moves in its orbit around the sun, departing from a straight line by only one-ninth of an inch every eighteen miles. If it departed by one-eighth of an inch, we would come so close to the sun that we would be incinerated; if it departed by one-tenth of an inch, we would find ourselves so far from the sun that we would all freeze to death. An honest evaluation of the universe quickly reveals design. Design demands a designer.” (Brad Harrub, Ph. D., Convicted: A Scientist Examines the Evidence for Christianity, 26 (Kindle Edition): Brentwood, TN: Focus Press)
As God says through Isaiah the Prophet, He designed the Earth to be inhabited. Many scientists (having carefully examined the many requirements for life to exist) have weighed in on how the “just right” conditions of our planet point to the existence of the Creator God.
Albert Einstein weighed in on the matter often:
“AS MENTIONED EARLIER, if you search atheist websites, you will find that many claim Einstein as one of their own. This is often done by having masses of quotes from him, giving the impression that he and the atheists were on the same team. They were not. As we have seen, Einstein didn’t believe in the God of the Bible, but he was no atheist. He made that clear. He couldn’t have made it more clear than with his “I’m not an atheist.” Here are his words in context when asked, “Do you believe in God?”: I’m not an atheist. I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. 2”. (Ray Comfort, Einstein, God, and the Bible, 77-78 (Kindle Edition): Washington, D.C.: WND Books)
Lee Strobel was interviewing a cosmologist, Dr. Michael G. Strauss, about this very subject. Here is a snippet of their conversation:
“These extraordinary cosmic “coincidences” have not escaped secular scientists. “There is, for me, powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all,” said Paul Davies, a professor of physics at Arizona State University. “It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the universe . . . The impression of design is overwhelming.” 7 British cosmologist Edward R. Harrison doesn’t hesitate to draw conclusions from the universe’s razor-sharp calibration. “Here is the cosmological proof of the existence of God,” he said flatly. “The fine-tuning of the universe provides prima facie evidence of deistic design.” 8 And Strauss wasn’t done yet. “Not only is our universe precisely calibrated to a breathtaking degree, but our planet is also remarkably and fortuitously situated so life would be possible.” “In what way?” I asked. “To have a planet like ours where life exists, first you need to be in the right kind of galaxy. There are three types of galaxies: elliptical, spiral, and irregular. You need to be in a spiral galaxy, like we are, because it’s the only kind that produces the right heavy elements and has the right radiation levels. “But you can’t live just anywhere in the galaxy,” he continued. “If you’re too close to the center, there’s too much radiation and there’s also a black hole, which you want to avoid. If you’re too far from the center, you won’t have the right heavy elements; you’d lack the oxygen and carbon you’d need. You have to live in the so-called ‘Goldilocks Zone,’ or the galactic habitable zone, where life could exist.” “Are you referring to intelligent life?” I asked. “Anything more complex than bacteria,” he said. Then he continued, “To have life, you need a star like our sun. Our sun is a Class G star that has supported stable planet orbits in the right location for a long time. The star must be in its middle age, so its luminosity is stabilized. It has to be a bachelor star—many stars in the universe are binary, which means two stars orbiting each other, which is bad for stable planetary orbits. Plus, the star should be a third-generation star, like our sun.”…Strauss paused, but I could tell he wasn’t done yet. “There are so many parameters that have to be just right for our planet to support life,” he said. “The distance from the sun, the rotation rate, the amount of water, the tilt, the right size so gravity lets gases like methane escape but allows oxygen to stay. “You need a moon like ours—it’s very rare to have just one large moon—in order to stabilize Earth’s tilt. As counterintuitive as it sounds, you even need to have tectonic activity, which experts said could be ‘the central requirement for life on a planet.’ 9 Plate tectonics drives biodiversity, helps avoid a water world without continents, and helps generate the magnetic field. Also, it’s nice to have a huge planet like Jupiter nearby to act like a vacuum cleaner by attracting potentially devastating comets and meteors away from you.” “Periodically, newspapers tout the discovery of what astronomers call an ‘Earth-like planet,’” I said. “Yes, but generally all they mean is that it has a similar size as Earth or that it might be positioned to allow surface water. But there’s so much more to Earth than those two factors.” “How many conditions have to be met to create an Earth-like planet?” I asked. “Hugh Ross sets the number at 322,” he replied. 10 “So if you run probability calculations, you find that there’s a 10-304 chance you’re going to find another planet that’s truly like Earth.” “Still, there are lots of potential candidates out there,” I pointed out. “One estimate is there could be more than a billion trillion planets.” “Granted,” he said. “So let’s factor that number into our probability equation. That still means the odds of having any higher life–supporting planet would be one in a million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion.” He let that astonishing number sink in. “In science,” he said, “we have a phrase for probabilities like that.” “Really? What is it?” There came a grin. “Ain’t gonna happen.”” (Lee Strobel, The Case For Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence For The Supernatural, 178-181 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan)
Today, let’s try to make some time to do the following.
First, give thanks to God Who so richly blesses us. He wants us to enjoy the Earth that He has made!
1 Timothy 6:17 (CEV)-Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost. Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life.
Second, while you give thanks for the good Earth that God has provided, be especially grateful for the people that He has given you to enjoy this short life with. There is no earthly substitute for the godly relationships we have. This has been especially clear to me over the last month, since my father passed on to his reward. Please don’t take your loved ones for granted.
Psalm 68:6 (CEV)-You find families for those who are lonely…
Father, thank You for the beautiful Earth You have made. Thank You for every blessing. Give us a heart of wisdom to number our days. In Jesus Name, Amen.
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