Why Does Nature Exist? The Hidden Logic Behind the Laws of the Universe

Most people rarely stop to wonder why nature exists or why it functions the way it does. If asked, many would simply say: “That’s just how nature works.”

For anyone who truly reflects however, this answer is not enough.
Nature does not “need to” act in any particular way. There is nothing that compels it to be stable, orderly, or predictable.

Modern science has discovered that nature itself was created. The universe did not exist forever. If the universe had a beginning, then the laws that govern it must also have had an origin — and therefore a Lawgiver.

Can Science Explain the Laws of Nature?

Professor Charles M. Vest, former president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), wrote in his 1995 annual report that what we call “laws of nature” are, in fact names for a mysterious, unexplained power that governs reality. 

“We do not understand what mechanism gives mass to the fundamental building blocks of matter.” We do not know what gravity actually is, or why the Earth attracts the Moon through empty space.
We do not know why particles move, interact, attract, or repel each other by invisible forces.

Science can describe how these things behave, but not why they exist, nor why they keep working.

A Lesson from the Frogs of Egypt

A Midrash offers a parable about scientific arrogance. During the plague of frogs in Egypt, whenever Egyptians struck a frog, it split into two — and when struck again, each new frog split again.
The magicians of Pharaoh tried to “prove” that this was a natural phenomenon, not a miracle. They struck frogs themselves and observed them multiply. “See?” they said. “It follows a law — it’s just nature!”

In truth, they missed the point entirely. They mistook habit and repetition for explanation. Only one who dares to ask why can discover that what we call “natural law” is itself a miracle — a sign of design and intention.

The Limits of Science

Rabbi Professor Yehuda Levy recalls an incident from his university days, described in his book Facing the Challenges of Our Time: 

“When we began our first mechanics class, the professor entered and said: ‘A body in motion continues in uniform motion unless acted upon by a force. Why?’ 

We were silent. One student finally said, ‘Because that’s Newton’s First Law!’ The professor replied: ‘Yes, but why did bodies move that way before Newton wrote his law?’

Eventually he said: ‘Physics has no answer to this question. It lies outside the realm of science. It is a philosophical question, and that is not what we study here.’”

He was right. Science can describe patterns, but it cannot explain why those patterns exist.

Like a Computer Without Its Programmer

Imagine a computer technician explaining how the hardware and software operate. He could describe every chip and circuit, but questions like Who built it? and Why was it designed this way? belong to a different discipline altogether.

In the same way, scientists can analyze the mechanisms of nature, but when asked why the universe exists or why its laws are so finely tuned, they often dismiss it as a “philosophical” or “religious” question. Yet these are the most profound questions of all.

Hawking’s Surprising Admission

Even Stephen Hawking, who was not a believer, acknowledged how precisely balanced the universe must be to exist at all. In his book A Brief History of Time (1988), he wrote: “If one second after the Big Bang the rate of expansion of the universe had been smaller by even one part in one hundred thousand million million, the universe would have recollapsed before it reached its present size.”

That means the odds of our universe existing as it does are roughly one in one hundred thousand million million! The rate of expansion had to be fine-tuned to within one part in 10⁵⁵. If it were slower, the universe would have collapsed. If faster, galaxies — and therefore life, could never have formed.

This is only one example of countless parameters that must align perfectly for existence to be possible.

From Data to Meaning

A person can record such facts mechanically, like a robot collecting data without comprehension. But someone who pauses to ask why will discover that these “technical details” are actually clues of divine design.

To the thoughtful observer — whether scientist or layperson, the precision, order, and beauty of the universe all point in one direction: There is a Creator who sustains it and gives it purpose.