Depending on when you read this, I will have just planted, or very recently planted, potatoes in my garden. Which, that might not sound like a super big deal—we live in a fairly agrarian society in south-central Kansas—but I want you to really think about how absurd that is. Not just for potatoes, but for all harvestable plants. Nonetheless, since potatoes are the most recent example, lets chat about them for a second.

I don’t know what you know about potatoes, but they grow underground. So somebody had to think to themselves, “I’m going to dig up this green leafy plant and see what happens…” Perhaps they thought it was a weed; and it was invading their wheat crop. So they dug it up under the impression that it was bad, but whence it came forth from the ground they thought, “Those are some strange looking roots…” 

At this point, they, or somebody else, would’ve had to think, “I’m really hungry. I should boil these in water and mash them up.” Maybe they had a baby to feed…or a super old parent. Maybe the first person to discover the potato wasn’t American. Maybe they were English. So instead of mashing them they thought, “I should scallop these…” Or maybe they were French. So they thought I cut these long like they Eiffel Tower and fry them in oil…”

I mean, are you starting to see the absurdity in this? Not my narrow and culturally insensitive stereotypes, but the fact that who really first thought eating a potato would be a good idea?

But not only are there “potatoes”, there are actually over 4,000 different varieties of potatoes. They vary from size to shape to color—I actually grew purple potatoes last year! So not only do you have to accommodate for who first ate a potato, and how they cooked it, but depending where you land on the whole evolution spectrum, you also have to come up with a reason for 4,000 different kinds of potatoes. Some of which can’t be eaten.

Now, as a Christian, it’s pretty easy for me to understand why God made 4,000 kinds of potatoes. Because, why not 4,000?

Psalm 104 says that God causes the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth…to gladden the heart of man…and to strengthen him…It goes on to say that He created all kinds of things so His glory would endure forever…

In other words, it’s for our joy and God’s glory that we get to discover all kinds of His plants on the earth—not just thousands of potatoes. For the record, I’m just glad I live in an area of the world where we have seasons, and by comparison, none of them are too long.

But at the end of the day, I most glad that God, in the fullness of time, looked forward through the annals of history and said, you know what would cause people to really praise my name? Potatoes. Rendered in duck fat. Lightly salted. Dipped in garlic aioli. Amen.