A Particular God

CBC carried the news recently that “scientists may have found the ‘God particle’.” Teams working with the Large Hadron Collider have nearly convinced themselves (if not all of their fellow-creatures who know nothing about colliders and sub-atomic particles),  that the Higgs boson particle, hitherto a theoretical particle waiting to be “proven” by  series of tests, does actually exist.  So this is an article about that article describing a particular type of scientist looking for a particular god-form— without asking God (whom we may assume is very particular about how and by whom He may be found.)

One reference to the possible scientific discovery-by-observation that this tiny sub-atomic  particle actually exists in the “real world”, indicated that, if proven, it would tell us all a lot about how our universe came into being. Kind of reminds me of the blind man to whom Jesus gave sight. The Pharisees continued to hound him with questions, not wanting to believe that it was as simple as he had said. “I told you already”, said the man. “Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to be His disciples?” Indeed, we have already been told how this world came into being: God made it. Any other explanation is smoke and mirrors. Those who keep looking for new evidence of some other genesis are like a two-year old, who, being rebuffed by his father in some quest for permission, goes to his mother for “a second opinion”. They are the so-called scientists who are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”.

One adage warns us of the queer condition when one “can’t see the forest for the trees”. The Ancient Mariner laments the bitter situation of a man surrounded by “water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink”.  We are witnessing a cloud of unenlightened witnesses who may be “professing themselves to be wise and becoming fools”. They are looking for a particle so small that its existence has not yet been proven while walking about on a planet which is so large that it s existence can hardly be denied.  True, it may be composed of molecules, atom, neutrons protons and particles of the tiniest sort but that just makes its creation at the hands of an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God so much more likely and so much more reasonable.

The earth may well be the first “God Particle” as far as mankind’s experience goes. The fact that we are here, walking about and growing flowers on the thin skin of a mass of molten rock hurtling through the universe (yes, the one whose edges we have yet to discover), proves that our sovereign and wise God has created it (the universe made of particles and light) for His own glory and pleasure.

The universe itself, long before the birth of the Hadron Collider, provided solid evidence that He exists. Well, as solid as particulate theories of relativity go. The existence of sun, moon and stars are evidence of His creation and the earth displays His handiwork. The mind and heart of man, while mysterious enough, are only the seal of His craftsmanship and His design. Tell me you’ve found yet a smaller particle and I will probably believe you. Tell me you’ve discovered a star or planet or a black hole or a galaxy still further from Chicago and still larger than the previously-known universe and I will probably blink in appreciative wonder and credulity. But don’t tell me you’ve found the “God Particle” that will unlock the mysteries of the universe and life. The One who understands all mysteries and reveals His secrets to whom He will—He is the source of every speck of wisdom and He will explain to us as much of His creation story as we are able to bear. 

Instead of searching His universe for an alternate explanation, let’s ask Him to search our hearts and see if there is in them any trace of evil unbelief. The Large Collider that will profit mankind is that frontier of discovery where our feeble assumptions collide with the truth of God’s great power and might—the God who can pick up tiny particles and hurl into orbit gigantic planets. He’s a particular God and no matter how small the particle or how large the galaxy, it has His fingerprints all over it.