THE SWISS ARMY BEE
Genesis 43:11
“And their father Israel said to them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts and almonds…”
Just about everybody has seen a Swiss army knife. This tool is much more than a knife and has all sorts of other devices tucked away in its handle.
The legs of the worker honeybee are very much like the Swiss army knife. Each leg has an extra joint between the knee and the joint of the foot. The bee’s foreleg has a special notch with bristles like a brush for cleaning its antenna. The middle leg has what has been called a crowbar that comes in handy for a variety of jobs in the hive. The back legs of the worker honeybee have pollen baskets that the bee uses to carry pollen to the hive. In addition, the back legs have a combination of spears and pincers for use in defending the hive. The back legs also have cleaning bristles for scraping pollen off the middle legs, while the middle legs have the same bristles for scraping pollen off the front legs.
Just as no one finding a Swiss army knife would think that it was just a random formation of nature, no one should think that the worker honeybee is something formed randomly by nature either. God has made the bee’s legs for the purpose of making it an efficient link in the production of honey, a food prized by many living things, including man.
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, we see everywhere in the creation that as the Maker of all, You have generously spared nothing to provide us with good things. We thank You for this care. I especially thank You that You even gave up Your life for my salvation. Amen.
Darwin’s Fatal Bee Sting (Book Fellowship, Tract No. 1218). Photo: Worker honeybees. Courtesy of Todd Huffman. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Genesis 43:11
“And their father Israel said to them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts and almonds…”
Just about everybody has seen a Swiss army knife. This tool is much more than a knife and has all sorts of other devices tucked away in its handle.
The legs of the worker honeybee are very much like the Swiss army knife. Each leg has an extra joint between the knee and the joint of the foot. The bee’s foreleg has a special notch with bristles like a brush for cleaning its antenna. The middle leg has what has been called a crowbar that comes in handy for a variety of jobs in the hive. The back legs of the worker honeybee have pollen baskets that the bee uses to carry pollen to the hive. In addition, the back legs have a combination of spears and pincers for use in defending the hive. The back legs also have cleaning bristles for scraping pollen off the middle legs, while the middle legs have the same bristles for scraping pollen off the front legs.
Just as no one finding a Swiss army knife would think that it was just a random formation of nature, no one should think that the worker honeybee is something formed randomly by nature either. God has made the bee’s legs for the purpose of making it an efficient link in the production of honey, a food prized by many living things, including man.
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, we see everywhere in the creation that as the Maker of all, You have generously spared nothing to provide us with good things. We thank You for this care. I especially thank You that You even gave up Your life for my salvation. Amen.
Darwin’s Fatal Bee Sting (Book Fellowship, Tract No. 1218). Photo: Worker honeybees. Courtesy of Todd Huffman. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
THE MASTER ARTIST
Genesis 2:9
“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…”
God not only is powerful and creative as Master Designer, but He is more. He is the supreme artist.
For example, the Earth could get along with a lot less color. All those beautiful sunsets and sunrises actually serve no purpose, and neither does each one have to be different from every other. Many flowers have colors that attract their pollinators, but few flowers actually need color for this purpose. But then, flowers in black and white certainly would be dull. There are many beautiful deep-sea fish that don’t need their bright and beautiful colors at all. Some of these fish live so far below the surface of the water that only a small amount of blue light reaches those depths. Where these fish live, everything always looks a very dim blue. Yet, some of these fish have incredibly bright coloration that they and their friends never see.
Here we have to ask the evolutionist what value could it have been for this fish to develop all these bright colors when they can serve no purpose for survival? In Genesis 2:9 we read that when God created the fruit trees for food, He also made them “pleasant to the sight.” They didn’t need to be. Clearly, God does indeed appreciate beauty and has created works that human artists can only try to copy.
Dear Lord, I thank You for all the beauty You have created in the world. I ask that You would help us to gain a better appreciation for it, and find better ways to preserve it. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Gary Parker, Ed.D., “Nature’s Challenges to Evolutionary Theory,” Institute of Creation Research, Impact Series, October, 1978, No. 64. Photo: Watercress darter.
Genesis 2:9
“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…”
God not only is powerful and creative as Master Designer, but He is more. He is the supreme artist.
For example, the Earth could get along with a lot less color. All those beautiful sunsets and sunrises actually serve no purpose, and neither does each one have to be different from every other. Many flowers have colors that attract their pollinators, but few flowers actually need color for this purpose. But then, flowers in black and white certainly would be dull. There are many beautiful deep-sea fish that don’t need their bright and beautiful colors at all. Some of these fish live so far below the surface of the water that only a small amount of blue light reaches those depths. Where these fish live, everything always looks a very dim blue. Yet, some of these fish have incredibly bright coloration that they and their friends never see.
Here we have to ask the evolutionist what value could it have been for this fish to develop all these bright colors when they can serve no purpose for survival? In Genesis 2:9 we read that when God created the fruit trees for food, He also made them “pleasant to the sight.” They didn’t need to be. Clearly, God does indeed appreciate beauty and has created works that human artists can only try to copy.
Dear Lord, I thank You for all the beauty You have created in the world. I ask that You would help us to gain a better appreciation for it, and find better ways to preserve it. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Gary Parker, Ed.D., “Nature’s Challenges to Evolutionary Theory,” Institute of Creation Research, Impact Series, October, 1978, No. 64. Photo: Watercress darter.
HOW MANY STARS ARE THERE?
Psalm 147:4-5
“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.”
Most of us have heard that our sun is an average-sized star. Yet, this star churns out more energy every second than we could ever use. Less than one-tenth of one percent of its energy falls on the Earth in any one second. If we could harness only one second’s worth of that energy, we would have more energy than man has used in his entire existence or expects to use for thousands of years into the future!
Some stars are so large that if they sat where our sun is, about 93 million miles away, the Earth would be inside them! Astronomers reckon that there are over one billion stars in our galaxy and over a million galaxies like it in the universe! This means that as incredible as God’s power must be to have created our sun, He actually made over a million times a billion suns! And just think, He did it all in one day and didn’t even rest the next day. Scripture even tells us that He calls each star by name.
All stars are not the same. Some generate huge amounts of energy but are completely invisible to our eyes. Others spin at speeds up to dozens of times per second. Some stars actually flash on and off like giant space beacons. Truly, God’s power, wisdom and creativity are infinite.
Dear Father, I am overcome by the incredible power of Your Word which created everything in space. Help me to remember that it is that same powerful Word which You had preserved in Scripture and use its power in my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: False-color image of the Sun observed in the extreme ultraviolet region of the spectrum. Courtesy of NASA.
Psalm 147:4-5
“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.”
Most of us have heard that our sun is an average-sized star. Yet, this star churns out more energy every second than we could ever use. Less than one-tenth of one percent of its energy falls on the Earth in any one second. If we could harness only one second’s worth of that energy, we would have more energy than man has used in his entire existence or expects to use for thousands of years into the future!
Some stars are so large that if they sat where our sun is, about 93 million miles away, the Earth would be inside them! Astronomers reckon that there are over one billion stars in our galaxy and over a million galaxies like it in the universe! This means that as incredible as God’s power must be to have created our sun, He actually made over a million times a billion suns! And just think, He did it all in one day and didn’t even rest the next day. Scripture even tells us that He calls each star by name.
All stars are not the same. Some generate huge amounts of energy but are completely invisible to our eyes. Others spin at speeds up to dozens of times per second. Some stars actually flash on and off like giant space beacons. Truly, God’s power, wisdom and creativity are infinite.
Dear Father, I am overcome by the incredible power of Your Word which created everything in space. Help me to remember that it is that same powerful Word which You had preserved in Scripture and use its power in my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Photo: False-color image of the Sun observed in the extreme ultraviolet region of the spectrum. Courtesy of NASA.
THE AMAZING MONGOOSE
Psalm 58:3-5
“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stopeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”
The mongoose is a superb snake fighter. The little creature is about three feet long and weighs about ten pounds. In many parts of the world, a mongoose is kept as a house pet because they keep the snake population down. This includes some of the most poisonous snakes in the world.
One of the most amazing features of the mongoose is its ability to walk away from a snakebite. Even if a cobra bites a baby mongoose, the baby mongoose is not in the least affected by the venom. This is because the mongoose has venom antibodies in its bloodstream and nervous system. Scientists studying mongoose behavior have found that even a mongoose that has been raised by humans and has never seen a snake instinctively knows how to effectively attack and kill a snake on sight.
The mongoose’s size, shape and speed all show it to be perfectly designed for killing snakes. Its amazing ability to ignore snake venom and its internal programming that allows the mongoose to be an effective snake-killer and friend to man certainly shows the power and wisdom of the Creator. Now, if He can make a creature such as the mongoose to protect humans from earthly serpents, we know that He is also able to provide us with protection from that old serpent, the devil, through His Son, Jesus Christ!
Dear Heavenly Father, Your wisdom in the creation is but a dim reflection of Your great wisdom in Your plan of salvation. Help me to remember this, especially when I am under attack by the devil. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Bob Devine, Uncle Bob’s Animal Stories (Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1986), pp. 7-9. Photo: Dwarf mongoose. Courtesy of Miika Silfverberg. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Psalm 58:3-5
“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stopeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”
The mongoose is a superb snake fighter. The little creature is about three feet long and weighs about ten pounds. In many parts of the world, a mongoose is kept as a house pet because they keep the snake population down. This includes some of the most poisonous snakes in the world.
One of the most amazing features of the mongoose is its ability to walk away from a snakebite. Even if a cobra bites a baby mongoose, the baby mongoose is not in the least affected by the venom. This is because the mongoose has venom antibodies in its bloodstream and nervous system. Scientists studying mongoose behavior have found that even a mongoose that has been raised by humans and has never seen a snake instinctively knows how to effectively attack and kill a snake on sight.
The mongoose’s size, shape and speed all show it to be perfectly designed for killing snakes. Its amazing ability to ignore snake venom and its internal programming that allows the mongoose to be an effective snake-killer and friend to man certainly shows the power and wisdom of the Creator. Now, if He can make a creature such as the mongoose to protect humans from earthly serpents, we know that He is also able to provide us with protection from that old serpent, the devil, through His Son, Jesus Christ!
Dear Heavenly Father, Your wisdom in the creation is but a dim reflection of Your great wisdom in Your plan of salvation. Help me to remember this, especially when I am under attack by the devil. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Bob Devine, Uncle Bob’s Animal Stories (Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1986), pp. 7-9. Photo: Dwarf mongoose. Courtesy of Miika Silfverberg. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
GOD’S SUPERGLUE
Psalm 119:31
“I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.”
Scientists say that it is not man but the lowly barnacle that makes the strongest glue in the world. This glue, called anthropodin, works well under water and enables barnacles to stick to the bottom of ships, sea turtles, rocks and piers.
Barnacles on the ship’s hull slow the ship down, and they have to be removed about every six months. The Phoenicians were among the greatest of the ancient seafarers and tried to keep barnacles from sticking to their ships by coating the hulls with tar. However, that didn’t stop the barnacles; they could even stick to tar! Modern seafarers have learned that there is no stopping the barnacle’s glue – at best, they can only slow down the inevitable. Scientists are now studying the glue with the hope of being able to manufacture it for human projects.
Despite man’s great claims for his science, everything man makes can be improved through a better understanding of how God did the same thing in the creation. The same holds true, in a sense, in spiritual matters. None of us by ourselves clings as tightly to God’s revealed Word as we need to. This is why we end up filled with worry, get depressed or have problems. Each of us needs to cling to God’s Word with a spiritual glue that is even stronger than that of the barnacle’s.
Dear Father, I confess that I do sometimes worry, get depressed and show other signs of not clinging to Your life-giving Word as I should. For Jesus’ sake, forgive me, and give me the spiritual strength to cling even more securely to Your Word. Amen.
Bob Devine, Uncle Bob’s Animal Stories (Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1986), pp. 23-25. Photo: Barnacles. Courtesy of MichaelMaggs. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Psalm 119:31
“I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.”
Scientists say that it is not man but the lowly barnacle that makes the strongest glue in the world. This glue, called anthropodin, works well under water and enables barnacles to stick to the bottom of ships, sea turtles, rocks and piers.
Barnacles on the ship’s hull slow the ship down, and they have to be removed about every six months. The Phoenicians were among the greatest of the ancient seafarers and tried to keep barnacles from sticking to their ships by coating the hulls with tar. However, that didn’t stop the barnacles; they could even stick to tar! Modern seafarers have learned that there is no stopping the barnacle’s glue – at best, they can only slow down the inevitable. Scientists are now studying the glue with the hope of being able to manufacture it for human projects.
Despite man’s great claims for his science, everything man makes can be improved through a better understanding of how God did the same thing in the creation. The same holds true, in a sense, in spiritual matters. None of us by ourselves clings as tightly to God’s revealed Word as we need to. This is why we end up filled with worry, get depressed or have problems. Each of us needs to cling to God’s Word with a spiritual glue that is even stronger than that of the barnacle’s.
Dear Father, I confess that I do sometimes worry, get depressed and show other signs of not clinging to Your life-giving Word as I should. For Jesus’ sake, forgive me, and give me the spiritual strength to cling even more securely to Your Word. Amen.
Bob Devine, Uncle Bob’s Animal Stories (Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1986), pp. 23-25. Photo: Barnacles. Courtesy of MichaelMaggs. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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