Technology exemplifies the providence of God
Last week I wrote about how technology has impacted my life by bringing forth a tool to making artwork possible. The technology of Wacom allows me to thrive as an artist despite having Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA). But the role of technology goes to even greater heights.
After publishing the article on February 24, I became aware of a long-awaited update from a biotech company that perked my interest more than a decade ago. Perhaps it was 2010, and I was watching a yearly conference held by FARA (Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance). Dr. Mark Payne, a pediatric cardiologist from the University of Indiana, spoke about the cardiac manifestations of Friedreich’s Ataxia, and the discourse I heard still informs many personal decisions.
But Dr. Payne also described a technology he formed in the laboratory and had already done extensive animal testing. The formula enables a synthetic form of frataxin to enter the mitochondria and function in the iron-sulfur cluster, a crucial component of respiratory-chain metabolism. And frataxin deficiency is the root cause of FA. The most significant takeaway from the discussion was Dr. Payne’s observation that if such a technology existed for cancer, it would already be in development for humans.
So when Larimar Therapeutics was launched by Mark Payne a few years later, I naturally wanted them to succeed. And on Tuesday afternoon, it came to my attention that the FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Nomlabofusp, Larimar’s FA drug candidate. Moreover the company plans to submit for a Biologics License in June of 2026 to make the drug available to patients in the first part of 2027.
For one living with FA since childhood, that there is a coming treatment for the root cause of the disease is incredible news. And after realization and gratitude for the many ways technology elevates the quality of my life, there is cause to reflect on the role of technology within the sovereignty of God.
In light of the healing balm provided by modern technology, a compelling path is set before me: the greatness of God on display in technological innovation. In Psalm 104, the psalmist describes the Lord, clothed with “honour and majesty,” and does so by arraying God’s providential care over the created order.
Verses 25 and 26 bring understanding to something otherwise normal and forgotten “So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.” From the perspective of primeval man, a ship was an amazing piece of technology, providing transport across waters as if on dry land.
The larger point is that the technological advancement of the ship is just an extension of man’s domain. As the sea is for the “play” of leviathan, so the entirety of the world is the play place for man. Through technology, man extends his rule over all creation.
When people bend and ply the elements of life into arts and crafts, in building, through technology and scientific innovation for constructive purposes, the greatness of God shines. When a desire to use scientific innovation for the benefit of humanity comes to fruition, it follows under the rule of the Sovereign Creator.
Therefore, if I am still alive for the opportunity to take Nomlabofusp when it is released, I will rightly acknowledge God as the director who makes and sustains life by his providential hand. Man and his technological advacements only play a created role on the cosmic stage.
