Why is the Universe Amazing?

In a lapse of judgment only explainable by stupidity, I went running after midnight tonight along a high school track. There were no streetlights, car lights, or people- just a dark track around a dark football field and a slightly intimidated runner. After a few laps, a silhouette appeared in the moonlight. I audibly “wowed” to the figure, a stargazer, but kept running as if I hadn’t just made a fool of myself. However, it wasn’t long before God compelled me to conversate (not a word) with the stargazer.

 “What are you doing?” I asked him, now stopping.

“Just looking at the stars.”

Sometimes, we have to take the first step towards being intentional. This was one of those times.

“I came out here to pray,” I awkwardly blurted out, “and felt compelled to talk to you”.

The man gave me a condescending smile, but I had come to far not to continue.

“Why are you staring at the stars?”

“I think they’re amazing,” the man awed. I asked him why the stars were amazing and he responded, “because… they are huge and distant… and they are made out of the same atoms that we are made of, which is awesome.”

Agreeing, I added, “Why do humans think that stuff is amazing? I mean, people have looked at the stars for forever. And not only the stars, we are amazed by the human body, and all the complexities in our universe. Why does that stuff amaze us? I can’t think of a scientific reason for it.” The man stumbled around for a few seconds trying to come up with an explanation. Without delay, I asked him, “Can I tell you why I think we are amazed at all this stuff?”

“Go for it.”

“I think that God made us in his image. So all people, even those that don’t believe he exists, are programmed a certain way. When we marvel at the stars in the sky, the veins in a hand, or the leaves on a tree, it is a compulsion to worship God. Worship may not be our intention, but we can’t help it because we’re programmed to do it.”

The conversation went on, and I actually got to share the gospel with the man, but this story is not all about my conversation- it is about a message between author and reader. I may be wrong about all of this; why do you think that humans are uncontrollably in awe of the universe? I can’t think of a logical scientific explanation.