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I’m sure you’re familiar with the classic children’s story about Goldilocks and the three bears. When Goldilocks stumbles into the empty house belonging to the bears, she finds that everything related to the father bear is either too big, too hard, or too hot; momma bear’s things are too small, too soft, or too cold. But the chair, bed, and food of the baby bear are just right. 

We’ve already discussed in this edition of Heart to Heart that creation proves the existence of God. Creation eliminates any excuse mankind may have for denying the reality of God. And one of the remarkable pieces of evidence for a Designer God is the pinpoint detail that perfectly placed the earth in the solar system. 

We live in a Goldilocks universe. Everything about our earth is “just right” for life to flourish. Even evolutionary scientists agree with the unusual suitability of earth. 

A quick Google search took me to an article called “13 Incredibly Lucky Earth Facts.” This article was written by a proponent of evolution, who ended his piece by reaffirming his belief that the earth was 4.5 billion years old. 

However, his first “lucky” earth fact is: “Our world orbits the sun at just the right distance—not too hot, not too cold. This habitable zone is where water can exist in liquid form—a basic requirement for life.” 

Of course, he considers this fact “lucky”—the result of accidental good fortune. The truth he suppresses is that an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator intentionally designed the earth to be this way. 

Mainstream evolutionary scientists actually do believe in a higher power than humanity; they are in awe of random chance, mother nature, statistical probabilities, and natural selection. But King David makes clear that the object of their awe is so misguided. 

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” (Psalm 33:6-8). 

It’s time we take a tour of the heavens—starting with our own home planet—and take a closer look at the precision of God’s creation. 

THE EARTH 

At this very moment, we are spinning around as the earth rotates at more than 1,000 miles per hour. Feeling dizzy? Not only that, we are rocketing around the sun at some 67,000 miles per hour. 

The amazing part is, we don’t feel a thing! No dizziness, or G-force pressure. 

Not only are we perfectly placed between sun and moon, we are the only planet with liquid water, a breathable atmosphere, a sun perfectly sized to provide just the right amount of energy and a moon perfectly sized to control the tides—keeping our land dry and our oceans sustainable. 

Other planet’s temperatures fluctuate by hundreds of degrees in a single day, due to their gaseous atmospheres. Our atmosphere has just the right mixture of elements to keep temperatures regulated and stable. 

So far, scientists have speculated that there are at least one trillion planets in the Milky Way galaxy— our hometown. And the observable universe—that is, the universe we can see with our best telescopes— has over 10 trillion galaxies! We can’t even begin to calculate the number of planets and stars! 

The question our world is wrestling with is: “Of all those planets and stars—trillions and trillions and trillions of them—how many can support life?” Only one. 

The prophet Isaiah makes it clear that the rest of the universe is uninhabitable, but earth was uniquely created by God to be inhabited. For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He established it); He formed the earth and made it—He did not create it (earth) empty, He formed it to be inhabited. (Isaiah 45:18) 

Is our Goldilocks earth the result of random chance or lucky facts? Not at all. We are eternally fortunate to have a brilliant Creator who loves us, cares for us, and designed the perfect planet for us! 

THE MOON 

Our nearest neighbor in the solar system—the moon—plays a vital role in our food ecosystem. If the moon disappeared, our earth’s axis would wobble, ocean tides would disappear, and our earth’s temperature would change drastically. Without the moon, there would be no clean water, plants, or vegetation—which not only function as food, but a source of oxygen we breath. 

JUPITER 

By far the largest of the planets in our solar system, Jupiter offers a fascinating example of how uninhabitable every other planet is for life. 

Jupiter has no solid surface we could walk on, instead, it is a core of liquid hydrogen surrounded by a giant gas cloud of hydrogen and helium. 

Not only that, the atmosphere of Jupiter is -234º, while the core of the planet is about 43,000º. How’s that for climate change? The temperature on Mars, as a comparison, averages to about -80º. If you don’t like winter in Chicago, you’ll not want to live on Mars. 

Further, Jupiter has a massive storm, called the “Great Red Spot.” Here on earth, a massive hurricane might envelope a few states in the US for a few days. Jupiter’s storm has been recorded for over 150 years and is twice as large as planet earth. Wind speeds for a Category 5 hurricane on earth reach a minimum of 157 miles per hour. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has been calculated at over 400 miles per hour. 

We should be more thankful that our Creator God has designed the perfect planet! 

I often struggle to understand the fascination in our world with finding extraterrestrial life on another planet. Not only because I trust God when He says that we were made unique and special, and that earth was uniquely made to inhabit life (Isaiah 45:18), but also because there is no scientific evidence to suggest life could be sustained anywhere outside of our planet. 

This rush to prove the existence of aliens is nothing more than wishful thinking, as humankind seeks to avoid the reality of a Creator God. After all, they reason, if life can be found outside of earth, then the statements about God’s unique creation of life on earth would be proven false. So rather than pursue God, they pursue a conspiracy theory with no evidence to support it. 

Why do people so readily deceive themselves? 

The answer is simple: if you acknowledge that God created you, you must also accept that God can judge you. If He is our Creator, He has the right to hold us accountable. 

Let’s continue to remind the unsaved world around us that God is a God of justice, and His justice should be feared; but He is also a God of mercy. He doesn’t require us to meet His moral standard—in fact, He knows we never can. Let’s introduce them to our Creator— Jesus Christ—who made us, knowing that one day He would have come to earth and die for us. 

And here’s even better news: we will live one day with our Creator Savior in a newly created heaven and a newly created earth for all of eternity.