A movie was playing on television while I moved between the family living room and the kitchen, listening as I went. In one scene, a man who was clearly the boss angrily scolded a colleague. The colleague tried to defend himself, explaining that his efforts had been hindered by the system’s “ambiguous rules.” The boss snarled, “Don’t you realize that without rules nothing works in the universe?”

His words immediately struck me. I saw in them an acknowledgment that every functioning system depends on established rules. As I reflected on this, I was reminded that where there is law, there must also be a lawgiver. I thought: If we are part of a Solar System and a larger cosmic universe, why is it so difficult for the world to recognize that there must be a lawgiver who established the principles by which it operates? If so, true world peace cannot be achieved without understanding and observing those laws, both known and unknown. And surely the lawgiver must possess intimate knowledge of the system’s design and operation in order to establish laws for it.

Why, then, do nations not devote part of their annual research budgets to discovering these laws, including spiritual ones, so that humanity might live by them and pursue peace?

Still absorbed in these thoughts, I turned and met the gaze of Darlington, who was visiting us from London with his wife and children. He was eating lunch at the table and seemed to be following the movie as well. I said to him, “Do you see how that statement completely refutes the remaining views of any atheist still out there?” Darlington had difficulty believing the gospel. I am not sure whether he understood my point, so I left it there.

To me, the actor’s statement points unmistakably to a Creator God who established the laws and ordinances governing the universe. I wonder why this seems so difficult to recognize, even for some renowned scientists. They have discovered, often with amazement, the natural laws that sustain the universe, yet they do not see God in them. They seem not to have considered that where there is law, there must necessarily be a lawgiver. Governments themselves create and administer laws yet often fail to consider that the laws governing the universe likewise imply an administrator.

God’s Word says that such people are under a curse: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened…And even as they did not want to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to reprobate minds, to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:21, 28). “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another” (Romans 2:15). Continue here.