Van Yandell: An Intentional Design?

Genesis 3: 13 “And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” My yard is small so a push mower is adequate. There’s no point in owning a riding mower for such a small area and a riding mower also takes up more storage space.

Recently when mowing a little too far out into the woods where the grass had spread, a stump covered in pine needles just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ka-wham!

The mower instantly came to an abrupt stop.

Moving it off the stump and pulling the rope it started as expected.

I finished the job and went on my way. The damage was done, but the extent of the damage was not realized.

Later I decided the right-of-way along the road needed mowing. When starting the mower a rattling sound was heard and after about ten feet, the cutting ceased. Hmmm, something must be wrong!

I actually thought the blade had come loose and all I needed to do was tighten the blade bolt and continue mowing.

Pulling the mower back to the pavement, then lifting it up to see the problem, the blade bracket and adapter (in two pieces) lay silently on the driveway.

Since the broken adapter had not been visible under the deck, it took about one whole second to realize what had happened.

The adapter is made with cast keyway housing and when hitting the stump, it broke.

That particular part is cast of what appeared to be an aluminum alloy. This design is intentional by the engineer/designer. Had that part not broken, hitting the stump could have bent the engine shaft and ruined the engine.

The entire mower could probably be replaced for the price of an engine. Unknown to most users, many products are designed with a weaker and less expensive part, actually designed to slip or break in order to protect the integrity of the entire product.

When teaching in the industrial arts classroom, one subject was the study of circuit breakers and fuses. Those items are protection devices made weak for a purpose.

It is much better to blow a fuse or kick a breaker than to have a building burn.

I nearly burned a new-construction house because of a faulty 20 amp breaker.

The breaker did not trip when two wires touched together unintentionally, with the resulting sparks flying.

The two pieces of copper wire fused together.

I broke them apart to finish the light fixture installation and the sparks flew again.

“Why did the breaker not trip?”

I wondered. When testing the breaker, it would not trip. If the flaw had not been discovered, the house could have, at some future date, burned to the ground.

Are we humans “built” with circuit breakers and other breakable parts? We fit perfectly into place with God’s plan. First, there was creation. Next, mankind was introduced into the equation; next was sin, called “the fall of man.”

Fourth, the requirement of redemption was provided through Christ Jesus. With redemption comes salvation, and finally, eternity.

Our circuit breaker is sin. Our human inclination that leads to sin is the blade bracket on the mower.

I’m not going to venture to say sin is good, but it is required for the completion of the sequence. Were it not for sin, Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross would not have been necessary. Notice in the above paragraph, sin came after the creation of mankind and before the need for a savior. Also, keep in mind, sin is a human action but a supernatural concept determined by God.

This six step process of existence is simple and the complexities of it are mind boggling yet inspiring. We may know we were created with a plan and a purpose. We were also designed with a weaker part that will break before the entire body and soul suffer a complete system failure. The scripture Roman 3: 23 reads, “For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.” It must be pointed out, especially if young children are in the congregation, the scripture doesn’t mean anyone is a mean, evil person. It simply means we are human and make mistakes. Sin is a part of the divine plan.

Coming short of the glory of God is an interesting concept. In asking, what represents God’s glory we may get as many answers as people we have asked. In the case of this verse in Romans, God’s glory is His righteousness. In order for us to realize this level of righteousness, we must first understand we cannot accomplish it on our own.

Isaiah 64: 6 tells us, “Our righteousness is like dirty rags.”

There is no way we can make ourselves clean. First

John 1: 7 tells us we are “cleansed by His blood.” As with the mower blade adapter, we are designed by

God to need His forgiveness. That part of us that will fail is our human side that leads to sin.

Many try to say, some sins are worse than others. Most would prefer someone steal from them than to kill them.

We therefore try in our human weakness to outwit God by ranking and classifying sin. In reality, all sin is against God and requires confession, forgiveness and a reinstatement of our fellowship with God.

Sin can be compared to that weak part on the mower blade assembly or a breaker in an electrical circuit.

We think of sin as a horrible thing, but it brings us to God for forgiveness and His righteousness.

When our circuit breaker (sinful nature) trips, we must seek God to reconcile ourselves to Him.

Sin is necessary for God’s plan to be complete. We are similar to the mower in that we all have a weak spot and that helps us to understand.