The Divine Design of the Human Body and World: Miracles in Nature, Faith, and Creation

Why do we have a nose? What is the purpose of this strange bump growing in the middle of our face? If you say it’s for breathing, then a flat face with two simple holes would be enough. Why do we have a prominent slope starting at the forehead and descending toward the mouth?

When a person approaches food, he might put spoiled food into his mouth without realizing it. Only after tasting it, he would feel the bad flavor and possibly become sick. Therefore, we were given this “protrusion” in the middle of the face to form a kind of “roof of scent detection” above the mouth. This way, a person can immediately detect whether food is spoiled before it enters his mouth, and avoid eating it.

Can such an incredible process — clearly reflecting intentional planning and care, develop on its own, without a Creator or Designer? By contemplating the human body, one realizes it was crafted by a superhuman Creator with infinite genius and immense power.

Bird Migration Without a GPS

Imagine needing to navigate across a foreign country on the opposite side of the world without a map or asking for directions.
You cannot rest, cannot stop, cannot detour, and you must not make a single mistake. Impossible, right?

When I observe migrating birds, I am stunned. Where do these tiny creatures get the strength and courage to fly thousands of kilometers — sometimes from one end of the globe to the other? Have you ever seen a bird mid-flight say, “I’m tired, I need to put my head down for an hour”? They fly tremendous distances with no visible effort!

How do they know the route and travel the same path every year?
They have no guide, no map — not even a compass. Amazingly, even the smallest, youngest birds — who have never traveled before, instinctively know the way and arrive precisely at their destination, often arriving before their parents!

Scientists have long wondered how these tiny creatures perform such accurate flights across enormous distances, without deviation, in cloudy or clear weather, without colliding into each other.

This is undoubtedly a wondrous natural phenomenon, that only the Creator of the world could design.

Resurrection of the Dead

Many struggle to understand the concept of resurrection. Is it possible that one day we will again see a person whose body has already decayed in the grave? That the dead will rise again?

Imagine a human body “growing” and emerging from the grave — after already turning to dust or leaving behind only a few bones — alive, walking, and speaking like any other living person. We would stand shocked, overwhelmed.

Yet this “miracle” happens all the time. Don’t believe it? Consider the plant kingdom:

A wheat seed is planted in the soil — essentially “buried” in the ground. After some time, as rain falls, the seed rots and decomposes. Then, suddenly, out of the rot, tall green stalks emerge — full of new grains resembling the original seed. Those new seeds can be planted again, and the cycle continues.

Why does this not astonish us? This is a miracle of life emerging from decay. Is this not a form of resurrection?

The only difference is — we’ve grown used to the miracle of agriculture, while we have not yet experienced the miracle of resurrection. Just as this miracle exists in nature, so will it be with the resurrection of the dead.

The One who breathed life into a lifeless body — can He not revive the dead? Of course He can. The One who created the human body from a single seed and egg — cannot He restore life to bones? Certainly.

God promised resurrection, as it says: “Many of those who sleep in the dust will awaken” (Daniel 12:2).

If you believe the Creator created the entire universe from nothing — how can you doubt His ability to recreate a human being from remnants of bones?

The Umbilical Cord

Our skin is generally smooth, yet right in the center of the abdomen there is a small indentation — the navel. Why?

The navel is a constant reminder of the greatest miracle of life:
A fetus grows inside its mother for nine months, completely nourished by her. But how does that nourishment actually happen?

During pregnancy, a tube called the umbilical cord connects the placenta to the fetus and transfers nutrients to the fetus while returning waste to the mother. This bizarre tube nourishes the baby perfectly for nine full months.

Consider its astounding design:

• Length: It is long enough for the fetus to move freely and to descend easily during birth. If it were too short, how could the baby be delivered?

• Protective coating: It is wrapped in a special jelly-like substance protecting it from pressure or twisting — preventing fetal distress, brain injury, or even death.

• Separation at birth: Immediately at birth, the cord is cut, and the baby must now breathe, eat, and drink on its own — an incredible transition!

The umbilical cord alone is a masterpiece of engineering, enabling a human being to survive inside another human being. Can such an astonishing life-support system appear by itself, without a Creator?

“If I Don’t Understand It, I Don’t Do It”

Sometimes people say: “There are mitzvot that make no sense to me such as keeping Shabbat, circumcision on the 8th day, not mixing meat and milk… If I don’t understand them, I won’t do them.”

So I ask them: When you were a soldier, how many times did your commander give you orders that made no sense to you — yet you carried them out without argument?

Would a recruit ever tell a brigade commander in wartime: “Listen, that doesn’t make sense to me. I think you’re exaggerating. I won’t do what you say”? Impossible. A soldier follows orders because he knows:

• the commander wants his good,

• the commander sees things he does not,

• and therefore — even without understanding, he obeys.

Why then, when it comes to God, do people suddenly feel free to express opinions and say “It doesn’t seem right, so I won’t do it”?

If people knew the spiritual light that Shabbat brings to the soul…
If they knew what a few minutes of tefillin do to one’s inner world…
They would never dare dismiss them.

Human greatness lies in fulfilling mitzvot even when we do not understand them. This is the very challenge through which we receive reward.

Even if a mitzvah seems irrational, we trust that God runs the world, while we are limited beings with limited understanding. One who rises above this challenge is assured spiritual reward in this world and the next.