A Coil of Wire and the Conviction of the Unseen

On August 29, 1831, Michael Faraday sat in his basement laboratory at the Royal Institution in London, wrapping copper wire around opposite sides of an iron ring. The materials were ordinary — metal and wire, things any tradesman might handle. But Faraday believed something extraordinary was hiding just beyond sight. When he connected one coil to a battery and watched the needle on his galvanometer twitch in the second coil, he had demonstrated electromagnetic induction — proof that an invisible magnetic field could generate real, measurable electric current.

What many don't know is that Faraday was a devout Christian, a lifelong member of London's small Sandemanian congregation, who served as a church elder and attended worship faithfully throughout his life. His faith was not separate from his science. Faraday was convinced that the Creator had woven unseen forces into the fabric of creation, and that careful investigation would reveal them. He pursued the invisible with the confidence of a man who already believed it was there.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:18, "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Faraday built his life on that conviction — in the laboratory and in the pew.

Here is the challenge for us: Do we live as though the unseen is real? Grace, faith, the patient work of the Holy Spirit — none of these register on a galvanometer. But they are no less powerful for being invisible. Fix your eyes there.