Fabiola Gianotti led one of two teams that discovered the Higgs boson, the most exciting feat of modern physics. Her team used a $10 billion particle accelerator to crash protons into each other at nearly the speed of light. When they sifted through the microscopic debris, they found evidence of an energy field, which apparently permeates the universe. As other forms of energy pass through this “Higgs field,” much like an airplane pushes through a stiff headwind, the Higgs bosons attach themselves to these particles of energy and give them mass. And that’s how every physical thing gets its body.

I wonder if targeting the Higgs bosons that attach to my energy might be an easy way to lose weight, but—more importantly—I marvel at what this discovery reveals about the mystery of God’s world. Who would have guessed that these infinitesimal and energetic bosons are responsible for giving mass to the universe? What will we discover next?

The science world is pretty excited. In fact, when Gianotti first saw the readouts proving the Higgs boson had been found, she jumped up and cried, “My God!” She regained her composure in time for the press conference, where she called out, “Thanks, nature!” And that’s a tragedy. Paul declares that those who proudly refuse to thank God and acknowledge His reality become “dark and confused” and replace “the glorious, ever-living God” with “idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles” (Romans 1:21-23). If Paul were writing today, he might add “and microscopic bosons.”

Gianotti is brilliant, but she refuses to acknowledge that God exists, and that she is made in His image. We become what we worship, and so it’s sad, but fitting, that the physicist who ignores God concludes, “We are nothing but quarks and electrons and a lot of empty space.” That’s not who we are, thank God!

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Jonah 1:1–2:10