The day was off to an uneventful start. I woke up, ran around the neighborhood for exercise, ate breakfast, drank coffee, showered, dressed, and ushered my two teenagers into the car at 7 a.m. for their 8-minute ride to school. I didn't really have to be at the office until 8:30 a.m., so there was plenty of time to drive to work. The traffic, however, was unusually busy that day, and the city's main thoroughfare was flooded with a sea of red brake lights from the cars in front of me. I strained my neck to discern the situation down the road, and saw that the traffic signal half a mile ahead was blinking red, indicating a malfunction. I tried to look for a detour, but none was available. I glanced to my side, and saw a Los Angeles County Sheriff patrol car also mired in the same traffic.
This was going to take a while.
The half-mile trek to the intersection with the malfunctioned traffic signal took over half an hour, enough time to listen to all the late breaking news on the radio, along with reports on the weather, stock markets, and details on every single professional football and basketball game over the weekend. I did manage to make it to work on time, but barely. It would have been nice if the police officer in the patrol vehicle beside me was out there directing traffic rather than being stuck in it himself.
Traffic signal malfunctions are thankfully quite rare during my daily drives to work, but a single malfunction at the wrong place and wrong time (this one happened to be at a major intersection in front of a high school during rush hour) could spell total chaos. It is easy to complain about getting stuck behind a red light at the intersection under normal traffic conditions, and give little thought to how intricate and vital traffic control is in the city until it fails. In the same way, we also take for granted the intricate order and physical laws of the universe, and occasionally even fantasize of worlds where some of these laws could be tinkered with in time travel machines, anti-gravity footwear and the like. Fortunately, God is sovereign over the universe and all creation. The Bible begins with the declaration that God is responsible for everything that has ever existed:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Creation responds by declaring God's glory:
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1
We can be confident that there will be no "malfunction" in our universe as long as God sustains it. All existence will cease in a moment if He does not.
