The Human Body–Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

As we celebrate our risen Saviour today, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the ways He created our bodies so “fearfully and wonderfully” in His image.

Brain

The brain consists of approximately 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) which gather and transmit signals.

The brain does not feel pain because it has no pain receptors.

There are about 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.

New neurons continue to be made throughout life in response to mental activity.

Information can be processed as fast as 268 miles per hour.

Heart and Circulatory System

The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels. (This distance would allow it to wrap around the Earth more than twice.)

In one day, the blood travels about 12,000 miles.

Approximately 10 million red blood cells are made every hour and an equal number are destroyed.

Internal Organs

The surface area of a lung is approximately that of a tennis court. (This large surface area makes it easier for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.)

Scientists have counted over 500 different functions of the liver.

The human body can survive the removal of the stomach or the spleen. It can survive the loss of 75% of the liver, 80% of the intestines, one kidney or one lung.

Each kidney contains one million individual filters.

Bones / Muscles / Skin

The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone.

A block of bone the size of a matchbox can support nine tons (four times the weight that concrete can support).

We use 200 muscles to take one step.

Skin is constantly shedding dead cells and renewing itself. We shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour.

Cells

300,000,000 human cells die every minute. Though this is a large number, it is only a fraction of the cells that our body contains. Estimates have put the total number at 10 to 50 trillion.

Our body produces 300 billion new cells each day. These are needed to maintain the body’s functional “status quo” as well as to continuously repair and build new cells.

If all of your DNA were stretched out, it would reach to the moon 6,000 times!

An adult is made of about 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7 octillion) atoms!

God’s Word

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be,” (Psalm 139:13-16).

Created in His image, our bodies reflect the wisdom and complexity of God. How will your life reflect Him today?

Happy Resurrection Day!