24 November

Today's the day when in 1859 British naturalist Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking and controversial book On The Origin Of Species was published. Darwin’s theory was that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called "natural selection". Those organisms with genetic variations that suit their environment tend to propagate more descendants than those of the species that lack the variation, so gradually life forms change to suit their environment.

The extent to which Darwin's theory is accurate has been argued by scientists and theologians ever since. But whatever method God has used to make us the people we are, the Bible leaves us with no doubt that every one of us is a wonderful example of God's creative handiwork. Psalm 139 celebrates the miracle of our creation like this:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!