Albert Einstein once said, “As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.” In other words, our amazing yet limited minds cannot know or fully understand how all things were created, nor fully about their existence.

Even the wisest of men, King Solomon, said this:
“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”
The ESV translation says it this way:
“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.”
Ecclesiastes 11:5

When considering babies in utero, Solomon, who had been given wisdom exceeding any other person, stated that it’s impossible to understand how babies are given life or how they grow. With today’s science, we can visually see the growth; the movements, the process of fertilization to cells dividing to bones, organs, skin, heart, brain, etc. Witnessing this miraculous event is a beautiful thing, yet there are questions that we still cannot answer: when does this minuscule being, who is showing signs of life as soon as the sperm and egg meet, have a spirit or soul? It breathes through liquid, its heart beats, it wiggles and moves its growing appendages, it shows that it senses pain, it hiccups, it responds to sounds… This tiny human is without doubt living as it is growing. We accept that this happens, but do not fully understand how two different cells – male and female – can join together and when unified, begin developing a new human life.

“For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.”
Hebrews 3:4

One of the greatest mysteries that will forever (in this life) remain unsolved is exactly how God spoke into existence life thus creating the things that are living. We can read and reread a thousand times over Genesis 1, but God has appointed His way of doing these incredible acts to be something beyond our understanding or reasoning. I personally LOVE to dwell on this topic, Genesis 1-3, but to know how God’s mind works is so far past what I can or should know.

Considering how it takes 9 months for the average human baby to fully develop, 2+ months for dogs, and nearly a year for horses, compare this to it taking God only 6 days to create our world and universe as we know it. Time is a created thing for us humans. God is not tied down by time. He transcends time and He controls it. So, for our benefit, He tells us it took 6 days to create our world, the heavens and life as we know it. This is because we are limited by our finite understanding of Godly things, so He gives us a timeline to go by.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27

If we compare the beginning of a human life to the beginning of our creation, we see that both are miraculous, and can only be of God. Sure, portions of it we can explain and follow, but in its entirety, this mystery will remain unsolved and unresolved.

“Not grasping the intricate, detailed origins of all life only heightens my curiosity, deepens my faith, and gives me the courage to keep growing in a relationship with my Creator. One day when I meet Him face to face, I will know. And then, it won’t matter much anyway.“
– Kari Wiseman

Knowing the answers to these questions in my lifetime would not change anything in my faith. These things are really only secondary issues, and have no significance to what God has purposed and done through Jesus Christ!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” – King Solomon
Ecclesiastes 3:11

Food for thought: ‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ – 2 Peter 3:8-9. These verses are not specifically stating that a year is equal to a thousand and to discount the 7 days of the creation story, but are a figure of speech relating to the eternity of God vs. the mortality of Man.

Fun facts: Babies are born with almost 50% more bones than that of adults. Some of these bones fuse together during the first few years, bringing the number of bones down to 206. For example: the skull of a newborn baby has several bones which overlap, creating what are known as fontanelles (or soft spots), which fuse together over the first 18 months of life. A God thing?? YES! Babies having more (soft) bones allows for them to pass easier though the birth canal.

Photo by: Kari Wiseman – Colors of Creation