Sunday Thought: With God, nothing is 'Junk DNA' in our Lives
You may feel like your life is full of wasted hours, days and years. But with God, nothing is wasted.
The sequencing of human DNA, through the Human Genome Project completed in 2003, was a remarkable milestone in human achievement. This identifying and mapping provided physical and functional descriptions for all human genes. Yet even as the human genome contains more than three billion base pairs in its DNA, a mere 2% of them perform the vital task of encoding proteins. Protein encoding is the irreplaceable step needed to build an organism's cells, tissues, and organs.
What about the rest of those 98% of base pairs? As science writer Jake Buehler describes, “The rest seems like pointless bloat, a profusion of sequence duplications and genomic dead ends often labeled ‘junk DNA.’ This stunningly thriftless allocation of genetic material isn’t limited to humans: Even many bacteria seem to devote 20% of their genome to noncoding filler.”
The term “junk DNA” was popularized in the 1960s and 1970s to describe segments of DNA with no known function. Similarly, just as we learned in our reflection about Dark Matter and Dark Energy, some 95% of the universe is currently immeasurable and unknowable to human perception. However, that does not mean scientists refuse to keep attempting to uncover the universe’s laws behind Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Cosmological discoveries scientists make in those attempts yield important insights to improve life on Earth.
Scientists also refuse to complacently rest with the belief that “junk DNA” is unknowable and useless. In recent decades, we’ve gradually learned incredible things about the biochemical processes of DNA previously labeled as “junk.” Harvard reported in 2012 that scientists have been “able to identify biochemical activity for 80% of the bases in the genome.” These insights could help in the fight against genetic diseases, including cancer, potentially saving untold lives. Because of these new discoveries, Cristina Sisu, a geneticist at Brunel University London, told Quanta Magazine that people should “take a step back and realize that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”
Reflection:
You may have suffered deep pain in your life. You may feel like your life is full of “junk DNA,” or wasted hours, days and years. You may be suffering now, whether it’s illness, addiction, abuse, loneliness, family estrangement or business failure. You may understandably feel nihilistic, like this suffering was all for nothing, that it’s been a pointless waste of your life, your health, your finances, your relationships.
Perhaps instead you have a loved one who is stricken with an incurable illness or genetic condition. You spend many hours watching them suffer and wonder why God would allow such “junk DNA” to plague this innocent soul.
But God understands the DNA of our lives far more deeply than you or I do. He understands there are no “junk” experiences, suffering or illnesses. God’s understanding of our lives’ DNA is gradually revealed to us, but fully known to Him. He knows the number of hairs on top of our heads (or if we’re bald, the gene sequence that triggered it!). He tells us in Scripture that nothing is wasted. Have faith and continue pursuing God–just as the scientists who continue delving into the secrets of “junk DNA.”
The Creator Speaks
1 Corinthians 13:12
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Romans 8:28
"And we know that in all things [including suffering] God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Genesis 50:20
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
John 6:12
“Let nothing be wasted.”