My wife and I are enjoying a holiday on a cruise which at present is sailing the islands of New Zealand.

The south coast of New Zealand is extraordinarily beautiful but a rugged part of the planet and has an ecology quite unique from other parts of the world.

The following scriptures came to mind during one of the nature sessions onboard. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened or who laid the corner stone? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Of course this is from the book of Job (Job 38:4-7).

Job was challenged by these questions some 3500 years ago and the same could be asked today, but our generation now attempts to answer them.

It was explained to us by a naturalist assigned to this cruise that the animals adapted to their environment. For instance, their ancestors were different from what we see today. The development of the flightless birds of New Zealand he explained is an interesting example of evolution - no predators, therefore no reason to fly.

Frankly, evolutionary theory is a cop out for serious scientific analysis. The sons of God (the angels) all shouted for joy when the plans for the earth were revealed, the foundation was laid, and the creation executed by the member of the God family that we now know to be the Son of God - Jesus Christ (“declared to be the Son of God through a resurrection from the dead). The sons of God, understood to be the angels who had been previously created, praised God for His well-designed plan, for this special earth on which we live.

In time, some of the created beings lost their respect for God and felt his plan for the earth, to create humans with the potential to become ruling members of the family of God, was misguided. Obviously, they felt it was not in their best interest. The first humans, shortly after they were created, were confronted with statements that cast doubt on God’s intentions which clearly granted them this possibility by the offering of the Tree of Life.

Once these doubts were planted in their minds they just couldn’t trust God after that. All the possibilities that lay before them were dashed on the rocks of suspicion. To remove “the hope of possibility” from one’s thinking is disastrous for any person.

Jesus had to come and show them who the God of heaven was. It was through God that Jesus performed many miracles and revealed to them a whole new way. He told them: “all things are possible with God” as his disciples witnessed His miracles.

How far have we come that we allow our new found scientific knowledge about the creation to overshadow the truth that there is a Great Creator? How capable have we become so as to minimize the miracles of God, to devise some kind of inferior and superficial explanation for all that God has done? God deliberately exposed the Israelites to His great wonders, as David testifies in Psalm 78, yet they forgot what he did and who He is.

Gene Cernan who died this past week at age 82, the last man to walk on the moon, asked the question when he was on the moon: “Why are we here?” He wrote his initials in the moon’s dust, knowing he would never be there again. He understood going to the moon wasn’t the answer to our problems on earth and that our earth is a very special place. It was created “good.” We haven’t lived up to God’s definition of “good.”

It should lead us to remember that God will accomplish everything He plans to do. He will live on this earth, and He wants to live here with His people. This was His intention at the beginning and it still is. His wonderful creation was full of “possibility” and hope. It is amazing that the vast majority of people who have this possibility in their future don’t know anything about it. Perhaps they should begin with discarding their “scientific explanations about the development of the creation,” and rather try to seek the true eternal God with whom nothing is impossible.