Intelligent design is not an imagined pattern of nature, overlayed on an indifferent reality by adherents of a minority movement. The truth regarding the study of nature is that evidence for design, purpose, and foresight pervades the physical and living world. Perceiving the underlying reality of design in nature serves as a motivation for ongoing research. Here, let’s highlight hidden design in some examples from nature that seem mundane, commonplace, and easily overlooked.

What could be more mundane than dirt? In a previous article, David Coppedge cites research that has uncovered an incredible richness of essential biodiversity living beneath our feet — in the soil of planet Earth. He quotes Mark A. Anthony writing in PNAS:

Soil organisms mediate unique functions we rely on for food, fiber, and human and planetary health…. Here, we show that soil is likely home to 59% of life including everything from microbes to mammals, making it the singular most biodiverse habitat on Earth.

A Humble Netherworld 

Another example of unexpectedly complex design resides unseen within our gut, resulting in this humble netherworld being referred to as a “mysterious second brain”.

The vagus nerve is a stout cable of neurons that serves as an information highway between the base of the brain and the gut.…The really surprising thing is that the trillions of microbes that inhabit a human digestive system play a role in all these communications, as University of British Columbia neuroscientist Heather Gerrie notes:

“In fact, 90% of the neurons in the vagus nerve are actually carrying information from the gut to the brain, not the other way around. This means the signals generated in the gut can massively influence the brain.”

Among many possible examples of plants with particularly beneficial qualities for humans, another EN article highlights a standout example with inherent design from the tropics.

It’s called the Miracle Tree, the Tree of Life, and Nature’s Medicine Cabinet….Its scientific name is Moringa oleifera…. Every part of this plant, from roots to leaves to pods and seeds, is edible.

The point to observe is that our world is saturated with examples of beneficial design, arguing strongly that these hidden treasures have been purposefully incorporated into our natural world. The author of the Miracle Tree article challenges researchers to pursue further studies of the potentialities of this remarkable plant for human benefit.

All that is needed are scientists like George Washington Carver to investigate the possibilities, like he did for peanuts and sweet potatoes, and then entrepreneurs to bring the benefits to the world.

The Multi-Use Peanut

Most people are familiar with George Washington Carver (pictured at the top) and his discoveries of multiple uses for the peanut, but his approach to studying nature reveals a mindset that deserves attention in relation to uncovering hidden design.

One of Carver’s biographers wrote,

He saw purpose and design in every facet of the universe. Indeed, the natural world was his laboratory for discovering the mysteries [hidden design] of an omniscient Creator.¹

Current researchers recognizing intelligent design have validated the same principle with, for example, the understanding that functionality exists in so-called junk DNA. I am convinced that layers of design have yet to be discovered in almost every aspect of nature. We don’t thereby slip into the falsehood of deifiying of nature. Instead, we approach the study of nature with a joyful anticipation of discovery — of things hidden for our benefit.

Why Does God Hide?

Related to this hiddenness, some skeptics have suggested that if God and his design existed, he wouldn’t keep himself so hidden. I believe this objection can be answered. To address it, I’d like to paraphrase a few thoughts shared with me by a friend and former student.

Treasures are always found by searching. The design in nature hides from us on purpose because it’s a treasure to be found. If the designer made everything about himself obvious, everyone would be responsible for that truth. But as it is, he reveals himself to the seeking heart — a disposition that prepares us to value and act on the truth, not just question it. To paraphrase another author, God doesn’t hide things from us, but for us.²

We see hints of this in the way the natural world has opened up its treasure to those who believed that it existed and that the effort to search for it would not be in vain. George Washington Carver’s belief in hidden treasures is best expressed in his own words:

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.

Notes

1. Gary R. Kremer, George Washington Carver, In His Own Words (Columbia: Univ. of Missouri Press, 1987), p. 140.
2. Bill Johnson, Dreaming with God: Co-Laboring with God for Cultural Transformation, (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2006), p. 67.