This passage has always been beautiful to me. Small and great beasts, from the tiny ant all the way to the staggeringly large whale shark or elephant...they all look to God their Maker for sustenance and life. Even the dumb animals know to rely upon The Lord!
I've thought about this a lot this past week... My family and I have been watching a documentary series about the different areas of the earth, (deserts, mountains, jungles, etc.), and the millions of species of creatures that inhabit them. Our planet is absolutely astounding, you guys. Newsflash, I know. ;) But seriously, I'd like to take a minute to talk about a couple of the things I've recently learned about these animals:
- There is a frog that lives in the jungle, called the Glass Frog...it is microscopically tiny, no bigger than your fingernail. Its skin is translucent, making the internal organs of the frog visible from the outside. The male frog has to guard its eggs for over two months from the literally hundreds of different predators that would love a mouthful of frog eggs for lunch. He will fight off wasps his own size, kicking at them with tiny hind legs, always sticking by his eggs so at least some of them get a chance to hatch. Unbelievable.
- A particular type of beetle (I can't recall the name), lives in the Namibian deserts, where daytime temperatures can top 125 degrees Fahrenheit. The only water in this incredibly stark environment is found in the mists that sweep the tops of the dunes every morning for a scant period of time. This beetle will climb to the top of the dune every single day, and using its body, distill water from the air. Special grooves in the beetle's body channel the water down to the mouth...it will distill and drink a quarter of its bodyweight before the mists disappear. Oh and by the way, the height of the dune, compared to the beetle, would be like a human climbing 3 Mt. Everests. Just think on that for a minute.
- There are chameleons that will sit at the bottom of the sand dunes, waiting for the aforementioned beetles because they KNOW THAT THE BEETLES COMING DOWN ARE JUICIER THAN THE ONES GOING UP. Okay, I'm sorry guys, this is just incredible to me?!?!
- Galapagos marine iguanas are born under the sand a little way inland from the ocean edge. The very instant that they emerge from underground, Racer Snakes (you guessed it--they're really fast), attack. Hoping to make a meal of a baby iguana, they will set up ambushes to catch it as it flees toward the safety of the beach. The tiny iguanas KNOW, even 2 minutes after they are born, that the snakes cannot see very well. They know that the snakes can detect movement, so they freeze. Once it is practically on top of the iguana, the snake will finally realize what's going on, but by this time the baby is off and running again. Sometimes the iguanas will make it to the beach...sometimes the racer snakes get a meal.
- A bird called the Sandgrouse will fly 120 miles round trip every single day for 2 months....in order to get water for its babies. And how does it carry the water? It flies 60 miles to a water hole, where there are certain hawks that wait specifically to kill and eat sandgrouse. While dodging the talons of the hawks, it will land in the shallow puddle of water and wait while special feathers on it's underside soak up the water. It is a time consuming and extremely dangerous process. After he has soaked up as much as he can (about half his body weight if I remember right), he begins the 60 mile trek back to his family, where the chicks are waiting to drink the water from his feathers. :O
This is a tiny, tiny sampling of some of the unbelievable creatures out there. Anyone who thinks that there is not a God who perfectly designed these animals for their specific habitat is simply delusional. Or insane. "Willingly ignorant", as The Bible puts it. The instincts that God has built into these creatures are so amazing!!! If He cares enough about a black beetle to give it perfect water grooves, or if He cares enough about an iguana to give it preinstalled knowledge about racer snakes...I think He can take care of you and me. In fact, I am positive that He can. :)
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
God provides for the smallest of animals, so why do we have so much trouble trusting Him with our lives? Even more sobering question: We are willing to trust God with our eternal destiny after death...so why can't we let Him take care of things while we are alive? I hope some of these things made you think today. We serve a gracious, mighty, and perfectly faithful God Who will never fail to provide for us. Just look at the way he takes care of the rest of creation! Fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. :)
Mykaela
