Jesus Holds The Universe Together
Wilderness DevotionalApril 14, 202500:09:2210.73 MB

Jesus Holds The Universe Together

What do you do when your world starts to fall apart?

Not the small kind of unraveling—like a flat tire or a bad day at work.I’m talking about when things really fall apart.When the future you counted on slips through your fingers.When the people you love let you down.When your faith feels like it’s cracking at the edges and you’re not sure what’s going to hold it together.

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we return again to the opening words of John’s Gospel… but this time we land on a staggering claim:

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”— John 1:3

We’re invited to see Jesus not just as Savior, not just as the Teacher or the Lamb or the Light—but as the Creator, the One through whom the universe exists, the One who holds it all in place.

From atoms to galaxies… from galaxies to your anxieties…He holds it all.

And that means—even when your world feels like it’s falling apart—you’re still in His hands.

Going Deeper

When I was a kid, I used to imagine God as an old man with a beard floating through space.Kind of like Gandalf, but with more thunder.

I imagined He was alone in the void.Quiet.Still.Maybe bored.

But John’s Gospel paints a different picture.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”— John 1:1,3

There was no loneliness.There was relationship.There was Logos—Jesus.And not only was He there, but everything that exists flowed from Him.

Which means your life is not an accident.Your pain is not random.Your story is not a mistake.

There is a Word that spoke you into being.A Creator who designed every fiber of who you are.And when it feels like everything is falling apart, this Creator—Jesus—has not let go.

Let’s get nerdy for a second.

Scientists talk about dark matter—a mysterious, invisible substance that seems to be holding galaxies together. It makes up the majority of the universe’s mass, but we can’t see it, touch it, or fully explain it.

Here’s what physicist William J. Broad wrote:

“A cosmic mystery of immense proportions, once seemingly on the verge of solution, has deepened and left astronomers and astrophysicists more baffled than ever. The crux is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be missing.”

So there’s something holding everything together…but we don’t know what it is.

And then I think of this quote from Philo, a Hebrew scholar writing about the Logos:

“The Logos of the living God is the bond of everything, holding all things together and binding all the parts, preventing them from being dissolved and separated.”

That’s what John is trying to get at.

Jesus isn’t just the Savior at the end of the story.He’s the glue that’s been holding the story together all along.

“In Him all things hold together.”— Colossians 1:17

When your life feels like it’s slipping through your hands…When your plans are breaking down, and your heart’s breaking with them…When it seems like no one sees, no one understands, no one is coming to fix it…

Jesus is there.Not just with you, but holding you.Not just aware of your chaos, but intimately involved.

The same hands that hold galaxies in place… hold your grief.The same voice that spoke light into the void… speaks peace over your storm.

Devotional: A Prayer for the Days You’re Falling Apart

Jesus,Sometimes it feels like I’m holding my life together with duct tape and leftover hope.Like everything could unravel at any moment.Like I’m one bad day away from breaking.

But then You remind me—I’m not the one holding everything together.

You are.

You were there before the world began.You were there when I took my first breath.You’ve been there in every dark valley,Even when I didn’t feel it.Even when I forgot.

So I give You my broken pieces.I give You the weight I’m tired of carrying.I give You the fears I’ve buried deep.I give You the questions with no answers.

Hold them, Lord.Hold me.

You are the bond.The thread.The center.

When everything falls apart…You are the One who never will.

Amen.



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00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 John 1, verse 1.

00:00:05 --> 00:00:06 In the beginning was the Word,

00:00:07 --> 00:00:08 and the Word was with God,

00:00:08 --> 00:00:09 and the Word was God.

00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 He was in the beginning with God.

00:00:13 --> 00:00:14 Now verse 3.

00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 All things were made through him,

00:00:17 --> 00:00:21 and without him nothing was made that was made.

00:00:26 --> 00:00:30 So I used to think in the beginning there was just space.

00:00:31 --> 00:00:31 And then there was God.

00:00:32 --> 00:00:32 And I thought,

00:00:33 --> 00:00:33 you know,

00:00:33 --> 00:00:37 God was like this old guy with this long white beard.

00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 That's just the imagery I had for it.

00:00:39 --> 00:00:43 I imagined God the Father alone in space.

00:00:44 --> 00:00:49 But we can see right here, John 1, in the beginning was the Word, Jesus.

00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 The Word was with God.

00:00:53 --> 00:00:54 All things were made through Him.

00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 And without Him, nothing was made that was made.

00:01:00 --> 00:01:04 This is basically telling us Jesus is the creator God.

00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 Nothing that was ever made has not been made without the

00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 influence and power of Jesus Christ.

00:01:09 --> 00:01:13 And that's exciting to me.

00:01:13 --> 00:01:14 I don't know if that excites you,

00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 but to know that Jesus has always been around,

00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 that Jesus has always been a part of God's plan,

00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 that Jesus has always been thinking of me and thinking of you

00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 and dreaming of plans

00:01:26 --> 00:01:27 and things from his heart.

00:01:28 --> 00:01:29 I just, I love that.

00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 One of the things that I think is awesome to look at is the

00:01:37 --> 00:01:38 idea that Jesus holds

00:01:38 --> 00:01:39 the universe together.

00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 I don't know what it was.

00:01:42 --> 00:01:46 When I was younger, I just, I hated science class.

00:01:46 --> 00:01:46 Like,

00:01:47 --> 00:01:51 I just was not interested at all in molecules or atoms or

00:01:52 --> 00:01:53 things of that nature.

00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 I just had no interest in it whatsoever.

00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 And I think it's because there was this disconnect in my mind

00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 between science and God.

00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 But now as I've aged and as I've grown and studied,

00:02:07 --> 00:02:11 I know that science is so connected to God.

00:02:11 --> 00:02:16 In fact, he is the chief scientist, the master architect of the universe.

00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 And now I love to learn about these things,

00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 probably because I'm not being forced by a school to learn about it.

00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 I love it because the universe is so amazing.

00:02:26 --> 00:02:27 It's so huge.

00:02:27 --> 00:02:32 It's constantly expanding and there's so many mysteries wrapped up in it.

00:02:34 --> 00:02:38 And as a follower of God, I can understand Jesus has always been around.

00:02:39 --> 00:02:43 He created the universe together with the Father and the Spirit.

00:02:44 --> 00:02:48 And His craftsmanship is absolutely mind-blowing.

00:02:49 --> 00:02:49 In fact,

00:02:49 --> 00:02:53 there's as many atoms in a single molecule of your DNA as there

00:02:53 --> 00:02:54 are stars in the

00:02:54 --> 00:02:55 typical galaxy.

00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 It's like each one of us is our own little universe.

00:03:03 --> 00:03:07 There's something fascinating out there in the universe called

00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 dark matter.

00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 And dark matter is where scientists basically say,

00:03:12 --> 00:03:16 there's something holding the universe together,

00:03:17 --> 00:03:18 but we don't know what it is.

00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 It's this mysterious force.

00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 And I just think that's crazy.

00:03:23 --> 00:03:27 There's this substance out there that scientists,

00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 the smartest scientists we have,

00:03:29 --> 00:03:30 they look at it and they say,

00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 we don't know what this is,

00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 but it's holding the universe together.

00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 There's this quote I want to read you from a scientist.

00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 His name is William J. Broad.

00:03:44 --> 00:03:45 He says,

00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 "...a cosmic mystery of immense proportions,

00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 once seemingly on the verge of solution,

00:03:51 --> 00:03:55 has deepened and left astronomers and astrophysicists more

00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 baffled than ever.

00:03:57 --> 00:04:02 The crux is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe

00:04:03 --> 00:04:04 seems to be missing."

00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 It's fascinating that the universe is held up by something that

00:04:13 --> 00:04:14 we can't see,

00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 something that seems to be missing,

00:04:17 --> 00:04:18 something that's invisible.

00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 And how does that even work?

00:04:22 --> 00:04:26 Well, there was a Hebrew scholar who had this to say.

00:04:26 --> 00:04:31 His name was Philo, and he wrote about the Logos.

00:04:32 --> 00:04:37 Remember, the Logos is Jesus, God's ultimate message to the world.

00:04:38 --> 00:04:39 Philo,

00:04:39 --> 00:04:40 this Hebrew scholar,

00:04:40 --> 00:04:45 wrote that the logos of the living God is the bond of everything,

00:04:46 --> 00:04:51 holding all things together and binding all the parts and

00:04:51 --> 00:04:52 preventing them from

00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 being dissolved and separated.

00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 I love what Philo says there.

00:05:03 --> 00:05:07 This idea right there in John 1,

00:05:07 --> 00:05:12 3,

00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 all things were made through him and without him,

00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 nothing was made that was made.

00:05:12 --> 00:05:16 Jesus is the one who holds everything together.

00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 And this is what gets me excited.

00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 It's that if God is holding,

00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 literally holding the entire universe together,

00:05:25 --> 00:05:29 how much more can I be sure that he's holding my problems in his hand?

00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 that he cares about my problems that he cares about your

00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 problems the things that i

00:05:36 --> 00:05:40 worry about the things that i freak out about a lot of times we

00:05:40 --> 00:05:41 think no one cares

00:05:42 --> 00:05:48 no one cares about my fear my anxiety my problems no one cares

00:05:48 --> 00:05:48 about what's going

00:05:48 --> 00:05:53 on in my heart and yet god is holding the universe together

00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 It's like the little kid song says,

00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 he's got the whole world,

00:05:58 --> 00:05:58 no,

00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 the whole universe,

00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 the whole galaxy.

00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 He's got all of that in his hands.

00:06:07 --> 00:06:11 And the amazing thing about God, the amazing thing about Jesus,

00:06:13 --> 00:06:14 is for me as a human,

00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 the more I hold in my hands,

00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 the more responsibility I have,

00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 the more stretched thin I get,

00:06:21 --> 00:06:25 the more I'm not able to really be there for the people I'm

00:06:25 --> 00:06:26 supposed to and love,

00:06:26 --> 00:06:27 the more that's put on my plate,

00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 the more it takes away from my ability.

00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 To help and love others.

00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 And yet for God, this doesn't seem to be the case.

00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 He holds everything in his hands.

00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 He sees the big picture.

00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 He looks down and sees it all.

00:06:43 --> 00:06:47 And we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but he sees it.

00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 And he knows.

00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 He knows why he made us.

00:06:51 --> 00:06:57 He knows the plan that he has to rescue and restore and redeem

00:06:57 --> 00:06:58 this fallen and

00:06:58 --> 00:06:58 broken world,

00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 to bring his family back together,

00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 to defeat evil once and for all.

00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 He holds all of this together.

00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 There's a great and beautiful story that he's telling.

00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 And he knows how it ends.

00:07:17 --> 00:07:21 everything we go through all of our problems all of our fears

00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 all of our worries we

00:07:23 --> 00:07:29 can know that out there beyond the stars is a god who sees it

00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 all and he loves us

00:07:31 --> 00:07:35 and he's there for us and he genuinely cares

00:07:42 --> 00:07:43 As you listen,

00:07:43 --> 00:07:48 take a moment to pray and reflect on the God who is bigger than it all,

00:07:49 --> 00:07:50 the God who made it all.

00:07:51 --> 00:07:55 Reflect on Jesus, who all things were made through him.

00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 Without him, nothing was made that was made.

00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 Lay your problems at his feet.

00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 He's bigger than it all, and he understands.

00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 He loves you, he cares for you, and he's there.

00:08:31 --> 00:08:32 Glory be to the Father,

00:08:33 --> 00:08:33 and to the Son,

00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 and to the Holy Spirit,

00:08:36 --> 00:08:37 as it was in the beginning,

00:08:37 --> 00:08:38 is now,

00:08:38 --> 00:08:39 and ever shall be,

00:08:40 --> 00:08:41 world without end.