The thorny acacia tree is not the usual food of the Kudu antelope. But because of overcrowding on game farms, the antelope began eating the leaves of this tree. Eventually, the kudu starved to death, even though there were plenty of acacia leaves to eat. Scientists learned that when antelope feed on the acacia, the tree begins to produce a chemical called tannin k. The tannin combines with other chemicals to give the leaves a bad taste. But worse for the antelope, the tannin impairs their ability to digest food, and eventually they starve to death. Scientists found that while tannin is not normally found in high concentrations in acacia leaves, within 15 minutes of leaf damage, the tannin levels in the leaves nearly double. They also found that the trees warn other trees about browsing animals in the area. When a leaf is chewed, it releases a scent that causes neighboring acacia trees to begin to produce tannin!

There is a spiritual lesson in this: In those places of the world where Bibles are easily available, Bible reading is decreasing. It is primarily where Bibles are hard to get that people appreciate the power of God's Word. God has provided us with plenty of food for our souls. Let's not overfeed on the world’s food and starve the soul by neglecting God’s Word.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Word made flesh. Please help me to remember this truth when I consider my use of Your Word, the Bible, in my life, so that I may remember that it is in the Bible that You instruct me. Amen.

References: “Does God Exist?” Vol.12, No. 6, November-December 1985, pp. 8-9.

What has eight legs, fangs, ridges on its underside, and is one of the “creeping things” that God created? No, it’s not a spider, it’s a daddy-long-legs.

More than just the ridges on its underside have set the daddy-long-legs apart from the spiders. Spiders have two body sections, while the daddy-long-legs have only one. Under a microscope, you would find that while spider fangs have two sections, the fangs of a daddy-long-legs have three sections.

God has also given the daddy-long-legs some very special abilities to protect itself. When it is attacked, it is most likely to be grabbed by one of its long legs, but its legs detach quite easily. A young daddy-long-legs will be able to re-grow the missing leg, while still getting around quite easily on the other seven. It has very good eyesight, and those eyes are placed on top of its body so that it can better see attackers. Most attacks are likely to come from above. The daddy-long-legs can also spray a nasty-smelling gas to protect itself.

God made three varieties of daddy-long-legs and gave this insect the important job of cleaning the forest floor of dead insects and decaying vegetation. Death and decay are the result of sin, so God must have anticipated Adam’s sin and created the daddy-long-legs, one of the creeping things, just before He created Adam.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I give thanks to You for Your great wisdom in providing for every detail of the creation and its needs, and for doing so in such wondrous fashion. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Joanne E. DeJonge, Bats & Bugs & Snakes & Slugs (Baker Book House), pp. 7-9.

Scientists have tried to tackle the job of creating a machine that is able to see as well as the human eye. In the process, they are gaining a new appreciation for the wonderful gift of sight.

First of all, they have learned that no computer chip can be made today which could begin to do what the retina does. The retina is a thin membrane like a small slip of clingy food wrap at the back of the eye. It contains the rods and cones and converts the picture from the lens into chemical signals that are sent to the brain. The retina is believed to contain the equivalent of twenty-five billion transistors! One expert has estimated that a computer chip that could begin to do what your retina does would be about half-a-million times bigger than your retina, contain over a million transistors and weigh in at about 100 pounds. It would also need a cooling system! Even with all of this, it couldn't see very well. It would only be able to resolve a square area of about two thousand pixels, while your eye can resolve five times that much!

Truly, modern science offers elegant testimony to the fact that the eye could not have been produced by evolution and that it could have only been created by a very wise Creator!

Prayer: Truly, dear Lord, I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I thank You for all the senses You have given me. Even though they may not all be perfect, I ask that You would perfect them by leading me to use them to Your glory. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References:

The small bird, known as the chimney swift, is unmatched in its flying ability. These little birds are so adapted to the air that they have only small, weak feet that do not permit them to walk or perch like other birds. In fact, their Latin name even means “without feet.”

When swifts do come to rest, they do so against a vertical surface like a wall. They are often found resting inside the protection of chimneys, which led to their English name, chimney swift. A large flock of swifts may sight a chimney and begin circling it in smaller and smaller circles. Finally, the birds closest to the chimney enter it, followed by the rest. One person reported seeing a flock of 10,000 swifts enter one chimney over a period of 37 minutes!

When David was cursed by Shimei, he realized that the curse would be of no effect because he was innocent of murdering members of Saul's family. In Proverbs 26:2, his son, Solomon, compares unjust curses to a bird which never lands, meaning that when people speak evil of us, or curse us, if what they say is untrue or unjust, their words will have no effect. It is God's wisdom to think of unjust things that are said about us as being like the swift, always in flight and never landing upon us.

Prayer: Dear Lord, when people speak evil of me or wish the worst for me and their feelings are not justified, help me to remember that You are all the comfort I need. And when I really do offend someone, give me a repentant heart. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Tom Malone, “Swifts are masters of the air but nearly helpless on ground,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, Sunday/June 4/1989/3E.

Altruism — helping one another — is a real puzzle to those who explain the world of living things in terms of materialistic evolution. Evolution is supposed to work on the selfish survival-of-the-fittest principle, so there should be no reason for any creature, including man, to develop a helping attitude. In fact, there is no way to explain how the genetic code could possibly develop and pass on a trait such as altruism.

Researchers have studied a bird called the white-fronted African bee-eater. Members of this species help each other, sometimes even at the sacrifice of their own life. For example, one bird will face a spitting cobra to defend another, and scientists have been puzzled to know how this altruistic trait can possibly be passed on, when it often results in death. Another common altruistic habit of the African bee-eater is that one female will put off starting her own family to help another bee-eater raise her young. Some argue that such behavior is limited to birds that are related. But they admit that even adopted orphaned bee-eaters will help their adopted parents in this way.

While it is often denied, the theory of evolution has yet to adequately explain altruism. Altruism is a demonstration of that commandment given by our Creator to “love our neighbor.”

Prayer: Dear God, I ask that You would help me so that I would not adopt the selfish and cold behavior of so many in today's world. Let my life be an example that draws others to You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Kathy A. Fackelmann, “Avian Altruism,” Science News, Vol.135, June 10, 1989, pp. 364-365.

Here, medical missionary Dr. David Livingstone speaks to us from his diary, written in 1872. He tells about God’s mercy as he experienced being the intended victim of a lion, “red in tooth and claw.”

“I heard a shout. Starting and looking half around, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was on a little height; he caught my shoulder as he sprang and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake by a cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess in which there was no sense of pain or feeling of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking around at the beast. The peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by carnivora; and if so, is a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, We know that the general rule in nature is to be eaten alive and we are reminded that many of Your people suffered horrible deaths as martyrs. While all this is the result of man’s sin, we thank You for this insight of Your mercy, revealed to us through your servant, David Livingstone. Amen.

References: Livingstone, David, 1872. Adventures and Discoveries in the Interior of Africa (Philadelphia: Hubbard Brothers. pp. 96, 102, 103).

Many people think that the greatest of the dinosaurs were the largest creatures ever to live on Earth. But while a few of the very largest dinosaurs may have been longer than the blue whale, the blue whale has the largest actual body size of any creature that ever lived.

The blue whale can reach a length of 100 feet and weigh up to 170 tons. That's about as much as a whole town of twenty-seven hundred people! It has to eat a million calories a day, which is equivalent to about 1,000 banana splits. The blue whale’s tongue weighs more than an elephant and its arteries are big enough for a man to swim through. Its heart, which has to pump the whale's entire supply of eight tons of blood, weighs 1,000 pounds.

In addition to its great size, the whale is intelligent. Besides showing forth God's great creative power and imagination, the whale also shows us that neither size nor other standards of human measurement give us an indication of how God places value on things. Though we human beings are not the largest, nor the only intelligent creatures on Earth, we are the only ones responsible to God for the way we live. That is why, when sin separated us from our Creator, He sent His only Son to save and restore us to Himself.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, help me not to measure things in a worldly manner. Instead of focusing on the creation, including myself, let my focus be on You and what You have done for me. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: So You Think a Dinosaur is Big. Does God Exist? May-June 1989

History flows like a river, unstoppable by any man, from the creation to the final judgement.

Man is by nature rebellious and is reluctant to acknowledge a Creator far superior to himself. In his rebellion, man has tried to transform God's creating Hand into the dice of chance. But chance events cannot create what mind and fingers make. Man may argue that Christ could not have risen from the dead because our most able scientists cannot raise the dead. Man may even claim that the educated have risen above a so-called Christian "religious myth" - but he cannot deny that when he does so, he creates a new religious myth.

All of history finds it’s meaning in Jesus Christ and all the fixtures of history are covered with the fingerprints of God. So long as man is allowed to be free to see, that fact will never be hidden by the proud claims of humanity’s science.

Men may deny that God is in control of all history or deny that Jesus Christ is the theme of all history. They can try to pollute the river of history or even hide it from view but they cannot deny that while futile attempts have been made, history remains numbered in years before and after Christ, B.C. and A.D. He, and no man, is the true Lord of history.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, despite the schemes of men to lure people away from You through the senses, so-called science, or apathy, I thank You that You remain the Lord of history Who cannot be denied. Amen.

References:

A recently released study on patience and reward echoes what the Bible has to say about patience, reward, and temptation.

The study involved four-year-old children and the researchers offered them cookies as the reward. The children were offered a choice of either a couple of cookies immediately or, if they were prepared to wait 15 minutes, they could have five pretzels, which was the much larger treat. They were allowed to see the treats beforehand and were told that they could sound a buzzer at any time and receive the smaller treat. After the study, researchers examined how well the various children did in school for the next ten years. Their conclusions were that those children who waited patiently for the larger treat as four-year-olds also did better in school than the children who could not wait. They also found that talking about the treats during the fifteen-minute waiting period caused more of the children to give in to temptation and abandon patience. Researchers suggested that teaching children self-control will help them in school and in their social relationships later in life.

These findings are exactly in line with what the Bible teaches about patience, finding its reward, and the caution to flee from the opportunity for temptation.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I am often not a very patient person. I ask for You to help me learn to be patient with those around me, even as You are patient with me as well as those who are yet unsaved so that no one may be unnecessarily lost. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Bruce Bower. Preschool Self-Control and Pretzel Logic. Science News, May 27, 1989. P. 325

The spider's web is more than simply a sticky net that catches insects. Scientists have recently learned that the spider’s web is also a clever lure that uses ultraviolet light.

Unlike humans, most insects can see ultraviolet light. They use this ability to locate the sun when it is behind clouds as well as to locate certain flowers that offer rich ultraviolet hues. Spider silk is able to reflect ultraviolet light. This is especia1ly true of silks used for web-making, as opposed to silks created by the spider for lining burrows or protecting eggs. The garden spider even weaves decorations into its web that increases ultraviolet reflection. In fact, webs that have extra decorations increase ultraviolet light reflection and increase the garden spider's catch by 58 percent. Scientists also think that extra reflective decorations in the web serve as a warning to birds that can also see ultraviolet light and are not welcome in spider’s webs!

Just as the spider's web is as much a lure as it is a trap, the devil too, uses lures to catch us in his traps. He lures us to them with things that will catch our attention. The knowledge of how he works is given in the Bible. God gave us His Son that He may teach us how to effectively spot, avoid and escape the devil’s traps.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, the devil is so much smarter than I am. I ask that even as You have redeemed me with Your holy, precious blood, You would help me to see the devil’s lures and traps and be warned away from them. Amen.

References: I. Wickelgren. Spider Webs: Luring Light May be a Trap. Science News, Vol. 135. P. 330

Several years ago Dr. Francis Hitching gave us his book The Neck of the Giraffe and in this he writes that Darwinism is in a lot of trouble. He laments, and I'm using his own words, that evolution "has not, contrary to general belief, and despite very great efforts, been proven."

Hitching points out that fossils do not show any history of evolutionary development. He says, creatures "come into the fossil record seemingly from nowhere - mysteriously, suddenly, fully formed and in a most un-Darwinian way." He admits that the systematic gaps in the fossil record will never be filled with evolutionary ancestors and that it can no longer be claimed that someday scientists will find the missing creatures. He confesses that in the history of life, plants and animals must be treated as though they came into existence fully formed - in the forms we know today. Hitching also notes other problems and complains that science has no idea how the genetic code could have formed without a Creator, while mutations cannot explain the supposed changes of evolution.

Hitching insists that there can be no debate that evolution actually took place. After all, he says, we are here and that is proof enough. But his statements are an honest and bottom-line admission that the theory of evolution has no support from the scientific facts.

Prayer: Lord God, Your Hand is not hidden even from those who do not want to see it because Your glory is so great. For this I thank You and I pray that Your Hand may be even more evident in my life. In Jesus' Name.

References: Francis Hitching. Was Darwin Wrong? Life, April, 1982

At one time textbooks defined man as the only tool-using animal. But then they discovered a number of animals that do use tools. So the definition of man was changed to say that man was the only animal that uses and makes tools. Before long, however, scientists began to discover that many of those tool-using animals actually make their own tools.

For example, chimpanzees will make tools out of sticks and grass to help them fish termites out of logs and trees. Chimps chew leaves to make a sponge that comes in handy for soaking water out of hard-to-drink-from places. Gorillas have been seen using crooked sticks to pull ripe fruit into reach. Elephants use sticks for back-scratchers. The California sea otter uses a stone to break open clamshells. The Galapagos woodpecker finch uses a stick or cactus spine to fish for grubs in trees and the satin bower bird makes a paint brush out of bark to paint the inside of its bower. But notice that more non-primates than primates make and use tools.

Our growing knowledge of the gift of intelligence that God has given to the animal world clearly shows that tool-making and tool-using have nothing to do with any supposed evolutionary development. But it does lead us to stand in wonder and thanksgiving at God's goodness towards His Creation!

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, help me to understand that intelligence, ability and even understanding itself are all Your gifts to us, and not our own accomplishments. Help me to avoid pride and to use Your gifts as You would have me use them. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Jane Van Lawick-Goodall. Tool-Using Bird: The Egyptian Vulture. National Geographic, Vol. 133, No. 5. P. 633-641

What makes something right or wrong? Are things that are sometimes wrong always wrong? Most writers and commentators, even most preachers today, have problems with the question of right and wrong. That seems amazing since only a generation or two ago few people had any problems at all with the issue of right and wrong. About the only act that seems to be universally accepted as wrong today is to claim that there is an absolute standard of morality!

How did things change so fast? That's not hard to answer. When people accepted that they were made by a Creator, they accepted one important consequence of that fact - the Creator owns us lock, stock, and barrel, and therefore has every right to hold us accountable for our actions. Many people understood that God was determined to steer us from the wrong and urge us toward the right because the wrong hurts us while the right provides us with a sense of fulfilment. So, life cannot be full when the Creator is not included.

When evolutionists convinced much of the population that this personal Creator was a myth, people began to reason that without a Creator, right and wrong were up for grabs - morality was not absolute. And that is just what the first architects of evolution said would happen if evolution was adopted!

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, it is because You have carried the punishment for my sin on the cross, and because You were raised on the third day that I have a new, meaningful life to live. Help me to live it and to have the joy that comes only from you. Amen.

References:

Did you know that according to one standard method of dating, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. was built before the time of Christ?

Anyone who has ever visited a cave has heard the claim that the stalactites growing in the cave take, on the average, a full century to grow only one inch. Cave visitors stand in awe as they view stalactites and stalagmites up to forty feet tall. The hundreds of thousands of years of Earth’s history begin to become a reality before their eyes. But the question is, does it really take a century to grow one inch of stalactite?

When the Lincoln Memorial was built during the 1930’s, the engineers sank steel cylinders into the bedrock in order to anchor the monument. The base of the memorial is set high above ground, leaving a cavernous basement beneath the floor. Rainwater seeping through the marble floor has formed stalactites up to five feet long on the basement ceiling! This growth is an inch per year, not per century!

In a very real sense, the stalactites in the basement of the Lincoln Memorial are rocks that carry the testimony of God against the naturalistic, long-age stories of evolution. Isn't it only right that we who know His love in Christ should tell others of His Creation as given to us in Scripture?

Prayer: Dear Father, I thank You that You have given me Your Word, the Bible. Help me to truly live as Your child by bearing witness to Your truth in this doubting world. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

References: Leaking Marble. Gems and Mineral Merchandiser, March 1983. P. 6

Their crystalline world might seem like another planet as they swim past monolithic crystals larger than themselves and down channels lined with nearly clear, often form-fitted boulders. But this exotic world is not on another planet. It may be below your feet.

While the wet sand of the beach may sometimes appear to be completely lifeless, it is literally saturated with life. Under a microscope, you would see countless creatures, some of them so small that they can actually swim in the small amounts of water between grains of sand. There might be tiny sand fleas which were washed ashore, appearing as giants next to the single-celled dinoflagellates which swim freely between the grains. The microscope can also show tiny marine worms and crustaceans of unimagined shapes navigating channels that may be smaller than a human hair. And even if you were to take dry sand from high above the water line and add water, you would soon find it teeming with the same kind of life.

Man's sin has caused untold destruction of the perfect form of God's creation. However, that original creation was so vibrant and wonderful that even the present shadow of what God originally made is saturated with life and beauty. While even our best science cannot hope to create anything like this, who among us creatures could even imagine creating such wonders!

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, the wonders that were made through You are beyond my ability to imagine. Help me to always remember that I look toward a new heaven and Earth, even as I have been made a new creation through Your saving work. Amen.

References: William H. Amos. The Living Sand. National Geographic, Vol. 127, No. 6. P. 828-833