“The universe confounds me! I cannot imagine that such a ‘clock’ can exist without there being a Clockmaker.”​—Voltaire, 18th-century French philosopher.

A PRECISION watch inspires admiration for the skill and talent of its maker. But what about the universe that surrounds us? Can that reveal, at least to a degree, the personality of its Creator?

Almost 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul, one of the writers of the Bible, gave an answer to this question: “For [God’s] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship.” (Romans 1:20) So, what can we learn from observing this book of nature?

What the Clock Teaches Us About the Clockmaker

A majestic waterfall, the sea during a storm, a clear night sky filled with thousands of stars​—these are some things that make us think of a powerful Creator. The precision of the orbits of the planets can also remind us, as it reminded Voltaire, that the Creator must be a Grand Organizer, a Master Clockmaker.​—Psalm 104:1.

The French writer Robert Lenoble explains this in his book Esquisse d’une histoire de l’idée de Nature, (An Outline History of the Idea of Nature): “Man will always turn his attention to Nature in order to penetrate its mystery and discover its secret, a secret that will never come out of a laboratory.” More than half of the Frenchmen polled by the Catholic daily La Croix​—whether they were believers or atheists—​agree with this and admit that “science will never be able to give a sufficient explanation of the universe, since a lot of things belong to the philosophical or the religious field.”