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Lions and tigers and bears – and other animal predators – aren’t the only killers in nature. Some plants also make their living by killing. One of the most unusual of these is the Strangler Fig, which grows in tropical forests.

Its uniqueness is apparent even from infancy. For example, Strangler Figs almost never start life on the ground – and if they do, they will never become killer trees. Only those that sprout high in the air can live up to their name.

The seeds of Strangler Figs are spread far and wide by monkeys and birds which enjoy the sweet fruit, but cannot digest the seeds. These seeds are equipped with a sticky coating, which helps them stick wherever they land. But only those that land in debris-filled crotches of tree limbs are likely to germinate, because only in decaying litter will enough bacteria be found to attack the tough outer casing of the seed. This casing must be destroyed before the seed can sprout, and it is no accident that this occurs just where the baby plant can find a store of rich nutrients on which to feed.

As it feeds on this aerial compost pile in which it sprouted, the new Strangler Fig begins sending down roots, seeking to establish contact with the ground. Not until this contact is made, and the fig is able to take up water and nutrients through these aerial roots, will the Strangler begin its upward quest for precious sunlight.

It might seem that the Strangler Fig handicaps itself by having to invest so much energy in growing downward, before it can start stretching up. But actually, the fig is well ahead of its competition by starting high in the air. At that level, it already has much more sunlight to grow on than is available on the ground.

Once the fig reaches the upper canopy of the forest, it begins growing in earnest. It does this by dropping still more roots to the ground. As these become more numerous, they eventually touch each other, and when this happens they begin to fuse together.

Thus, over a long period of time, the Strangler Fig spreads a living girdle around the trunk of the host tree. In time, this girdle becomes a coffin, for the growing fig trunk-of-roots gradually crushes the life our of the host tree imprisoned within. With the passage of yet more time, the remains of the host rots away, and the cavity is filled by the still-expanding root-trunk of the fig.

A mature Strangler Fig can live for a very long time, and may become the biggest tree in its part of the forest. And, ironically, Stranglers sometimes become the only survivors when man clears away the forest. The wood of Strangler Figs is useless for lumber, so they are often left as shade trees.

These fig trees are extremely popular with many forms of animal life. The fruit attracts many kinds of birds and monkeys, which harvest it in the treetops. In addition, wild pigs and ground-dwelling rodents eat whatever falls to the ground. Many small animals and insects make nests in the countless cavities lift in the trunk when the roots do not perfectly fuse together.

Thus, if we had to decide whether the Strangler Fig was a villain or hero, we would probably have difficulty in making up our minds. The truth is, this killer tree is neither villain nor hero, but simply a part of nature. It does what it does because it fills a particular role in nature. We should neither laud nor condemn it.

Instead we should recognize it: Recognize that it is another witness to us that God Almighty created and maintains our world. The Strangler Fig would tell us, if it could, how it was uniquely fashioned to fill its niche in the world’s ecology. It would remind us that only a wise Creator could keep its roots from becoming dry and dead during their prolonged search for the ground. It would also assert that only a deliberate design would provide its seed with a tough outer casing which must be dissolved by bacteria before germination can begin – thus ensuring that a rich supply of nourishment will be at hand for the emerging sprout.

And, if a tree could quote Scripture as well as speak, it would doubtless recall the Apostle Paul’s word to the people of long ago, “…God, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them; who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:15-17)

God has many witnesses. Let us hear from the witness of the Strangler Fig.

But there is another needed lesson in the fig. Jesus Christ used a different type of fig tree for a lesson on the meaning of life. He told a parable (Luke 13:6-9) about a barren fig tree, which the owner determined to cut down in order to make room for a productive tree. But the gardener pleaded for another chance for the fig tree. He wished to fertilize it, and see if that would help it produce fruit the next season. If not, he said, then it would be time to cut it down.

The serious question Jesus raised with His simple parable is whether or not we are productive in our lives. The barren fig tree may represent us. The Bible says we were given life on earth in order to do the works which God prepared for us from the beginning of time (see Ephesians 2:10). Are we doing those works?

Before we can even begin to do the work to which God has called us, we must know that we are truly His children. And that can only be when we draw near to Him, through faith in His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. As the Bible says: “There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12)

(All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

Those wonderful grasses! What in the world would we do without them? The family of grasses can easily qualify as royalty in the kingdom of plants, for they are the most useful and needful to man of all the plants on earth. We think of wheat, from which bread – the staff of life – is made. It is a grass. We think of rice, which feeds most of the world’s population: It is a grass. We think of corn (or maize), which also feeds a large part of the world. It is a grass. We think of oats and millet, rye and barley: They all are grasses.

Without these cereal grains, as they are called, human life would only be possible on a vastly smaller, simpler scale. Without grass and its seeds there would be no grazing animals; and without horses and oxen, men would have to walk instead of ride, and carry their burdens upon their own backs.

Without grains there could be no teeming cities, for cities demand the kind of large food reserves which grains chiefly make possible. The world would have remained a world of subsistence agriculture – a world of only small farms and small villages. Hunger would never be far from mind and stomach, because only grains are capable of long-term storage. Modern civilization would probably be impossible even to dream of, for technology rises from abundance. Men whose time and energy is spent of foraging for the day’s needs do not dream great dreams.

If we look more closely at the nature of grass, we shall see how truly remarkable it is. For example, it is good for grass to be grazed upon, or mowed. Most pants grow from the tips of their stems, and if the tip is cut off the plant is doomed. It cannot grow any more. Grass, however, grows upward from the base, cutting the top of a grass plant merely encourages new growth from additional buds at the base. Furthermore, grass even benefits from being stepped on by cattle! Many types of grass spread by sending out runners, and when these are cut by the hooves of cattle they often send down roots at the point of the break. New plants grow from these new roots.

Thus there is a balanced, beneficial relationship between grazing animals and grass. The animals fill their bellies with tender leaves and stems, and are content. The grass, in turn, is encouraged to spread by being clipped and trampled, and also is fertilized by dung and urine from animals.

Man also is indebted to grass for the meat he eats, for the meat animals feed upon either the leaves or the seeds of grass. In many parts of the world, men also make furniture, ships, houses and even water pipes from grass – for bamboo is also a grass, and many useful things can be made from bamboo.

Grass also serves as a means of preserving precious soil. The spreading root systems of many grasses form sod, which absorbs rain and prevents erosion of the soil.

Truly, we are fortunate indeed that our world is stocked so widely with grass! But how did it happen? Was it an accident of nature that caused a family of plants to grow that almost begs to be eaten? Absurd! This is contrary to every principle discoverable in nature. How is it, we may ask, that grass grows from the base instead of the tip, as with nearly all the rest of the plant kingdom? It is almost as though someone had deliberately designed a plant to be good for animals and man.

And that, we believe, is exactly the case. Someone did create grass with the precise characteristics needed to undergird civilization for man. The Bible identifies this “Someone” as God. In the book of Genesis, the Bible says: “God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;” and it was so.” (Genesis 1:11)

God also made dry grass to be good for starting fires – thus giving us both tinder for fires and a powerful example of the impermanence of our physical bodies. “All flesh is like grass,” the Bible says, “and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls; but the Lord’s word endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:24)

We are not here for long. But we are someplace forever. This also is the message of the Bible. The patriarch Job was well aware of this, thousands of years ago. He said: “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God…” (Job 19:25-26)

Job’s Redeemer has already visited the earth, and He will come again in glory. Job did not know His name, because He had not yet come. But because He has come since Job’s day, His name can now be known. The Redeemer’s name is Jesus, the Anointed One of God. We call Him Christ, which simply means “anointed one.” The Bible declares Him to be the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father.

The Bible also tells us that God does not desire that anyone should perish – that is, die a spiritual death. It is this that Christ came to conquer, and did conquer, for all who believe in Him. The Bible says, “The sting of death is sin… But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

Job’s Redeemer can be your Redeemer also, if you will call upon His name.

(All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

What is that can be made into “millionaire’s salad” at one end, and into toothbrushes at the other? While you are pondering that question, let us add that almost everything in between the ends is also useful to man.

What is it? It is the palm tree – or rather the family of palm trees, for there are hundreds of varieties.

One of the good things to eat which some palms furnish is the growing green bud at the top of the tree. It is sometimes called “millionaire’s salad,” because the tree dies when this tip is removed. Presumably only millionaires can afford such waste for the sake of a delicacy for the palate.

Various palm trees also furnish dates, coconuts, sago, oil and the betel nuts that are chewed by millions as a stimulant. The leaves of palm trees are widely used in the tropics for thatching roofs, as well as being woven into panels for walls and sun shades. Another palm, the rattan palm, provides much of the furniture. And the husks of some palm seeds are hard enough to use as gravel for roads – or, in the case of the ivory palm – to make beautiful buttons.

And the toothbrush? For ages, some peoples have used pieces of palm tree root to clean their teeth. Altogether, the palm is so useful that it has been dubbed “the prince of the plant kingdom.”

The palm tree’s manner of growth is unique among trees. In fact, it grows a lot more like a stalk of corn than like usual trees. A corn stalk has a pithy center. So do palms, particularly the sago palm, which stores edible starch in its pith. A corn stalk does most of its growing in a thickish outer layer, and so does the palm.

“Normal” trees grow outward throughout their life, thanks to a living sheath of cells – called the cambium layer – which continually adds woody tissue on the inside and bark on the outside. But palm trees have no cambium layer, and for this reason generally cannot grow bigger around. The few varieties which do swell outward above ground do so from pressure generated by cell growth in the interior of the trunk.

One striking result of this growth habit is the palm tree’s ability to survive fires which decimate trees all around them. Since the palm’s life is centered inwardly rather than outwardly, it can often survive, even with a badly burned exterior.

Palms also have tremendous resiliency, thanks to the tough fibers which are packed densely in the outer layers of their stems. This enables them to bend and rebound in high winds which shatter other trees.

How did such a different kind of tree happen? Not by evolution! According to evolutionists, evolution mercilessly weeds out both plants and animals which seem to go counter to main-stream development. The Theory of Evolution is success-oriented. The winners become ever more successful, and crowd out the losers. There really isn’t much place for great variety in a world formed by evolution. And that would be particularly true in the tropics, where the competition for growing space is fierce. Yet it is chiefly in the tropics that this very different family of trees thrives!

There is another, more reasonable answer to the question of how all things came to be, and that is the Bible answer. The Bible says, “God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;” and it was so. The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:11-12)

Palm trees are good. We have palm trees to be a blessing to us as a gift from a great and good Father-God – a God who created the earth as a glorious garden, and placed man in it as the pinnacle of His creation. This, the Bible tells us, is how it all began.

But the Bible also tells us of man’s great fall, and how in falling he spoiled the garden. Death and destruction thus entered into the very warp and woof of nature. The Bible also tells us that nature will not always remain ruined. A day is coming when this will be reversed, and all things shall be again as they were in the beginning. At that day, the Bible says, the lamb shall lie down with the lion in perfect safety. There will be no more killing; no more desolation. All will be at peace.

No man knows when that great restoration will take place. But we do not have to wait for that, in order to find perfect peace with God in our hearts. There is a way now to be reconciled to our God and our Maker. That way is through God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6) It is our prayer that you, too, will find peace in Christ Jesus.

(All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

Have you ever wondered why plants grow upwards instead of sideways? Or thought about why roots grow down? These are constants of nature, but why are they so? Plant scientists have discovered part of the answer, and it is a plant hormone. (Of course, they first had to discover that plants had hormones, just as animals do. These hormones are sophisticated organic chemicals which regulate growth and development. Plant hormones are not identical to animal hormones, but fulfill similar functions.)

The particular hormone of which we speak is primarily a growth hormone. It is called “auxin.” And through its growth control function, auxin does, indeed, make plant stems grow up, and roots grow down. Let us see how auxin does this.

Think of a sapling growing on a steep hillside, for instance. Many such young trees bend out at first, but then turn straight up. This occurs because auxin accumulates more densely on the lower side of the limb tip. This encourages the cells on the lower side to grow more rapidly than those on the upper side, and soon this side of the stem stretches. This extra growth forces the upward turn, and this continues until the growing tip is vertical – at which time the amount of auxin on the two sides is equalized, and growth henceforth will be straight up.

But suppose the growing tip (or leader) is destroyed. What will happen then? If the leader is lost, several branches below it will receive additional auxin, and begin bending upward. If one outdistances the rest, it will become the new leader, and the others will resume their former subservient status, being deprived of the extra supplies of the hormone. But if two branches win the race in a dead-heat, the tree is like ly to become a “double” above that point, for both will become leaders.

But what makes the roots turn downwards? In this case, auxin’s effect is exactly the reverse of its effect on stem tissue. Scientists have found that root tissue is extremely sensitive to the influence of auxin, and responds in the same way, as long as the concentration of the hormone is quite low. But when the concentration reaches a critical balance point, the effect is exactly reversed: Growth is inhibited instead of encouraged.

The auxin again accumulates on the downward side of the growing tip, as with the above-ground parts, but instead of stretching the lower side to force an upturn, those cells are retarded, while those on the upper side grow normally. The net result is that root tendrils turn down.

But if we hoped to find a full answer in science as to why plants behave as they always have, we have sought in vain. We have deciphered one or two pages of the Maker’s instruction manual, but not the entire book. Our discoveries have simply uncovered more mysteries.

For example, it was formerly assumed that sunlight was what triggered proper growth patterns: That leaves and stems stretched up to the light, and roots turned away from it. But a simple experiment will show it is not that simple. Seeds which germinate in total darkness still send out shoots which grow upward, and roots which grow downward.

So it is not light, or at least not light alone, which makes the plant respond in the “natural” way. Perhaps gravity plays a part. At this point, the answer is simply not known. What is known is that something regulates the production of auxin, and directs the delivery to the proper places, in the correct strength. Something causes root tissue to reverse its response to auxin when the critical concentration is reached. Something orders extra auxin to be sent to potential new leaders, when the original leader is lost.

Somehow, every seed comes fully equipped with built-in instructions which will guide its development from first leaf to final form. Every seed is the marvelous creation of a vast Intelligence which quietly brings wonders to pass in our everyday world. It is only as we seek to penetrate the secrets of this creation that we are able to realize the awesome perfection of all its parts.

We follow haltingly in the ages-old footsteps of God, His wonders to behold. Truly, His works declare His glory! Praise His Name!

It is the nature of all living things to reproduce themselves, to produce the next generation of their kind. But when trees in dense forests try to do so, they often encounter a serious problem: There is no place for their offspring to grow. Even though there may be room enough and to spare on the ground beneath the stand of trees, the leafy forest canopy overhead blocks out the essential sunlight. The result is that seedlings cannot get a real foothold on life.

The parent trees attack this problem in various ways. Some produce “winged” seeds, which can be carried moderate distances by wind currents. Others depend upon birds or squirrels or other small seed-nibblers to carry away and hide more seeds than they will eat. Still others equip their seeds to lie dormant for many years on the forest floor until the right conditions for sprouting occur.

But perhaps the strangest provision for the next generation of trees is that made by some species of pine. These trees hold their children close in the womb until a forest fire clears a space for them.

While the cones of most conifers open when they are ripe to allow the seeds to fall, the cones of these pines remain tightly closed – often for so many years that the yearly growth of bark grows up around them, holding them in fast embrace.

Only one thing will cause the cones to spread their scales and release the seeds within: extreme heat. Frequently it is only the heat generated by the incineration of the parent tree which opens the womb. These pines give birth only in the throes of death! Only thus can they insure living space for their progeny. And thus also is provision made to heal the fire’s wound, and re-clothe the hills with new growth.

Beyond all doubt this is a marvelous provision, but we are impelled to ask how it could come about. Could it have “just happened?” Is it the end result of an evolutionary chain of adaptations, as many would claim?

The unproven Theory of Evolution would have us believe that little by little, as eons passed by, these pine tree species moved further and further from the normal summer-time dropping of seeds, toward their present policy of never dropping them until calamity strikes. Could intermediate methods have worked? They could not! The first changes toward requiring ever greater heat for seed release would have meant that any little fire, or lightning bolt, or even a hot sunny day, would have triggered the dispersal, without providing the necessary break in the forest canopy overhead.

No, once again we see that there is really no place for trail-and-error development, nor for gradual development. But both of these concepts are required by the evolutionary theory. To function at all, the finished system had to be in place and operational.

And this points to One who foresees the end from the beginning. It points to the Master Planner, who lovingly fashioned each individual element of nature, and gave to each species the unique properties which would sustain that species, and at the same time create a harmonious whole. We are looking at the handiwork of God.

God lavished as much loving attention to detail on creating the least atom and lowliest worm as He did when He populated the boundless starry heavens. He watches over every blade of grass, as well as the oxen that eat the grass, and the men who drive the oxen. And, lest we think too highly of ourselves, His Word reminds us that: “As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.” (Psalm 103:15-16)

We are not here forever, nor are we here without a purpose. Purpose is inherent in the design of every leaf, every rock and rill, every creature – and not least, every human being. The Bible tells us the purpose of creation in Revelation 4:11: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!” [Or, “…for your pleasure they are and were created.”]

We were created to give God pleasure: The pleasure, the joy that a father feels when his children return his love.

When we see all around us death and disease, destruction and slaughter, and a world slowly being poisoned by its own excesses, this is not the result of God’s design, but of man’s rebellion against the peace and purposes of God. The Bible foretells a time, yet future, when God will step dramatically into history again to bind up nature’s wounds and bring peace again upon earth. At that time, no man’s hand will be against his neighbor, and all will serve the Son of God, who will rule in righteousness.

But we do not have to await that time to make our peace with God. He gives heart-peace and joy, even in the midst of perils and persecution, to all who call in true faith upon the name of his Son, Jesus the Christ of God.

(Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

The Black Rhinoceros of Africa not only looks somewhat like an animated army tank, he frequently acts like one. His massive body is covered with a very thick skin, suggestive of armor plate, and he is armed with two great horns, the larger of which may extend more than four feet. With this horn the black rhino has been known to attack almost everything it encounters, up to and including locomotives.

Despite his bulk and clumsy appearance, the rhino possesses amazing agility. He can charge at 30 miles per hour, but if he misses his target, he can wheel quickly for another attack. He can also clamber nimbly up steep slopes.

Added to this potential for trouble is the rhino’s pugnacious instinct to attack whatever seems threatening. He “hits first, and asks questions later,” as the saying goes. Rhinos have been known to suddenly attack antelopes, among which they had been peaceably grazing, without apparent provocation. Equally, they have been known to abruptly charge bushes and trees which caught their attention. One game warden in Kenya rescued a rhino which was stuck in a mud-hole, only to see the ungrateful beast cave in the side of his vehicle immediately afterwards.

Yet, there is a reason for the rhino’s belligerence. If he were human, he would be considered legally blind. Thus he tends to be frequently surprised when strange objects intrude within the narrow range of vision, and his instinctive reaction to the unknown is to attack without hesitation. If his eyesight were better, he would doubtless be more peaceable toward non-threatening objects.

Strangely, the rhino is regarded as one of the most easily tamable wild animals in Africa. Once penned and given time to acquaint himself with his unchanging surroundings, he becomes gentle enough to eat out of is keeper’s hand. Captive rhinos love to have their ears rubbed, and some have bee taught to roll over on their backs to have their tummies scratched. This tremendous change in behavior helps confirm that it is distrust of the unknown that is largely responsible for their pugnacity.

Rhinos have no natural enemies except man – but that one enemy is enough to have endangered the continuance of the species. Many Asiatic peoples have long believed that powdered rhinoceros horn is a powerful aphrodisiac, able to enhance man’s sexual prowess. In 1965, for example, one kilogram of an Asiatic rhino horn sold for $1,125. For this reason, there is a flourishing, though illegal, trade in rhino horns, and poachers are steadily pushing the rhino toward extinction.

The horn of the rhinoceros is indeed a wonder, though it has never been proved to actually possess and aphrodisiacal powers. Unlike the horns of other animals, rhino horn is composed of tightly compressed hairs! Most species of rhino have very little hair on their bodies – it is all concentrated in the horns. It is amazing that the hundreds and hundreds of individual hairs can cling to each other so tightly that together they can challenge iron and steel – and win!

How did the rhino horn develop? Did the body hairs of a early-day rhinoceros decide they would better serve the animal if they clumped together to form a horn? How could such a thing evolve?

The answer is, it could not have evolved. There is no way that normal body hairs could have migrated millimeter by millimeter, over many millenia, and then reached out to cling to each other in tight embrace, so as to form the rhinoceros horn. The horn would have been utterly useless until both sufficient numbers of hairs had arrived to achieve density, and they had somehow been enabled to fuse together in layers. The intervening thousands of generations would have been defenseless – but if they had succeeded without the horn or horns (some species have only one), there would have been no demand for horns to develop.

Instead, the rhinoceros has always had the horns he now has, as original equipment. They are one of the basic parts of the rhino, and all his elements – armor-plate hide, weak eyes, short temper, massive build, etc. – were put together by the Creator as it pleased Him to do so.

Who is this Creator God? He is “The God who made the world and all things in it… he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.” (Acts 17:24-25) He is the God who gives food to the lions: As the Bible says, “The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God.” (Psalm 104:21) He is the God who made us, as the Bible also records: “…It is he who has made us, and we are his…” (Psalm 100:3)

But He is so much more than merely Creator, though His creation is marvelous in our eyes. He is also the Judge of all the earth. And He also loves as a father loves. As the Bible says, “Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh [that is, God] has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust… But Yahweh’s [God’s] loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him…” (Psalm 103:13-14, 17)

Let us learn reverence for Him as obedient children, that we may abide forever in his loving mercy.

(All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

What could cows and cockroaches possibly have in common? Cows are large animals which provide man with milk and meat and hides, while roaches are squalid insects which do not provide man with anything, except perhaps to serve as objects of his hatred.

But different as they are, cockroaches and cows do share one important characteristic: They both owe a large measure of their success in life to friendly bacteria which spend their lives inside their host’s bodies. It is thanks to their unseen germ partners that cockroaches are able to eat almost anything they can find in our kitchens, and cows can eat grass.

In cows, the bacteria live in the first two of four stomachs. Here the bacteria go to work, breaking down the tough cell walls of the grass. The cow’s digestive juices can’t dissolve this material, called cellulose, but the bacteria thrive on it. They turn it first into sugar, of which they eat a portion themselves, and turn the remainder into various nutritive organic acids, which become the chief source of energy for the cow.

When you see a cow chewing her cud, she is grinding up some of the undigested grass from her first stomach, in order to help the bacteria get at the cellulose. When the bacteria colonies derive a rich diet from their labors in the cow’s fore-stomachs, they multiply very rapidly. But this doesn’t concern the cow, because the excess population is simply swept into the final stomachs, where they are killed by the digestive juices. In fact, their bodies become a source of vitamins, fats and protein which the cow needs!

Science has not learned nearly as much about the mutually beneficial relationship between cockroaches and their bacteria partners, but it is known that each is totally dependent upon the other. The bacteria species apparently cannot live outside their hosts, and roaches reared without the usual resident bacteria are stunted, weak and abnormal.

How roaches control their bacterial populations, and exactly how the bacteria aid in the digestive process are still mysteries, but it is known that they are an enormous help to the host roach in converting food to energy. The bacteria normally live only in specialized cells found in organs called “fat bodies,” which chiefly serve the insects as fat storage vaults. However, when female roaches approach maturity, the bacteria increase in number and many move to the ovaries. Here they beneficially infect the eggs shortly before they are laid, so that each new roach will get a proper start in life.

Cows and cockroaches and bacteria: What a strange mixture! We usually think of bacteria as harmful but, as we have seen, it is not always so. They also work cooperatively with the other grass-eaters, such as horses, sheep goats and rabbits, and even with wood-eating termites.

How did this unlikely pairing and sharing get started? Did a group of patriarch microbes decide they’d dwell peaceably with grass-eating animals, in return for snug quarters and plenty of food brought to the table? Or did ancient animals make the first overtures?

Neither can be the case. Such mutual dependencies cannot develop, simply because they could not have gotten started. Grass-eaters can’t eat grass without help, so there were no grass-eaters before the dual relationship was fully functioning. Similarly, the grass-digesting bacteria cannot survive and thrive without protection.

Each partner needs the other, and has from the beginning. This is marvelous in our eyes, because it is a manifestation of the work of God. Only He could bring together the candidates for partnership. Only He could create the whole panorama of abundant life, with every species of plant and animal designed to function in its own sphere and environment.

And this is precisely what the Bible speaks of in Psalm 104, when it says: “He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food out of the earth…” (verse 14), and again: “Yahweh’s [that is, God’s] trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted…” (verse 16). And yet again: “These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust. You send forth your Spirit: they are created. You renew the face of the ground.” (verses 27-30)

When we think of these things, we must conclude with the psalmist: “Let your meditation be sweet to him [God]. I will rejoice in Yahweh [that is God] (verse 34).

(All Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

What is it that looks like a turkey, and works like a horse? Actually, nothing exactly matches those qualifications, but the Mallee Fowl of Australia comes close.

It is only the male of species that works so strenuously, though his mate also labors in her own way. The cock Mallee puts in up to eleven months of hard labor every year, striving to cope with a unique problem presented by his hen.

The problem is the size of her eggs. She is about the size of a domestic chicken, and weighs perhaps 3 ½ pounds. Her eggs, however, are more than three times the size of chicken eggs, weighing about half a pound each. Since the nest contains eight to ten eggs at a time throughout the laying season, Poppa Mallee has a large problem: There is no way Mrs. Mallee can cover all those eggs to keep them at the right temperature.

The Mallee cock has an answer, and it is the reason he is called the “incubator bird,” or the “mound-builder.” Since his mate can’t hatch the eggs, he arranges an artificial incubator. Sand and damp vegetation are his raw materials. But in the desert interior of the Australian Continent, even this presents a problem. That is why his work continues through so many months.

He begins in the winter, by digging a pit 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Into this pit he piles all the plant material he can scavenge within 50 yards around the site. After the winter rains have soaked the leaves and bits of brush, he covers the pile with a layer of sand. As the damp mulch begins to decompose, fermentation sets in giving off quantities of heat.

For the next 4 months, the cock Mallee tends his “cooker,” uncovering the pile periodically to turn and stir the mixture, and vent off excess heat and moisture. When the laying season arrives in the spring, his incubator is ready for occupancy. If he had waited until spring to begin his preparations, all would have been in vain, for normally there are no rains in the spring, and thus there could be no fermentation to generate heat.

We might think that after the egg laying has commenced, he could take a well-deserved rest, but such is not the case. Instead, his routine becomes even more demanding, because now he must keep the nest at a constant 91 degrees F. (33 degrees C.). During the spring, night and morning temperatures are low, while afternoons are usually warm. Consequently, he is constantly busy, either building up the sand layer atop the nest to hold in heat, or taking it off to prevent overheating.

To aid him in his determination as to what is needed at any given moment, he has a remarkably accurate “thermometer” built into his mouth. If we were to observe him at work, we would see him frequently pause to dig his beak into the pile for a mouthful of sand. He lets this sift slowly out the sides of his bill as he takes the pile’s temperature.

As summer succeeds spring, the heat potential of the mulch falls off. This is fortunate, for now solar heat not only replaces the internal source, but also brings new problems. Now, the blazing noontime sun would cook the eggs in short order if they were not protected. Father Mallee does this by adding more sand, as long as this is feasible. But when the layer reaches a thickness of 3 feet, his limit is reached. By this time he has moved almost 20 cubic yards of sand and earth, using only his feet. Some of this mass he must remove and replace twice a day – making it thinner when the precious eggs require more heat from the morning sun, and thicker when the sun beats down too strongly.

By midsummer, however, this system is no longer adequate to protect the eggs. So Poppa Mallee installs a “refrigeration system.” In the morning, when breezes are cool, he spreads out large quantities of the sand covering to cool. Then, before the sun gets too hot, he digs troughs in the remaining cover and fills them with the cool sand, adding additional top cover for insulation.

By the time autumn arrives, most of the clutch of eggs will have hatched, but there will still be several of the last-laid eggs in the nest. Now Poppa Mallee has the reverse of the midsummer problem: His eggs are in danger of growing too cold. He solves this by reversing his summer strategy: Instead of introducing cool sand into the nest environment in the morning, he now brings in warm sand in the afternoon, having spread the sand to heat while the sun was high.

Throughout all these long months of weary labor, Mrs. Mallee hardly raises a feather to help. But we must remember that she is laying eggs at approximately weekly intervals, each of which takes from her about 12 per cent of her bodily resources. The 35 eggs she lays in a season equal more than 4 ½ times her own weight! Truly, she labors prodigiously in her own way.

Ironically, all of the Mallee Fowl’s work is expended upon the unhatched eggs. After they hatch, the chicks are entirely on their own, and life presents a struggle at the outset. After breaking out of the shell, they must burrow out of the incubator mound. Many are not equal to the task and suffocate. Those that succeed are generally so exhausted that it is all they can do to crawl to the shelter of the nearest shrub. But, after a rest, they scurry off and within a day or two are able to fly and look after themselves.

Most chicks never see their parents, and certainly they learn nothing from them about the techniques of mound-building. Yet, when their time comes to mate and reproduce, they somehow know exactly what they must do.

How shall we explain this? Instinct is the answer, of course, but whence cane the instinct? Let us recall that the incubator mound must be kept at a constant temperature for about 7 months, through a succession of seasonal changes and daily temperature cycles. The cock Mallee Fowl cannot afford even one lapse, for it could kill the eggs. But the important consideration is that this has always been a strict necessity in every generation – else there would have been no following generation. In other words, they had to be equipped with the specialized knowledge needed for survival from the very first. There was never time for trail-and-error development of the technique.

There is only one way these incubator birds could have come by the skills they must have and that is for Someone to build the proper instincts into them. That Someone is God. The Bible says He created each type of animal, each variety of life, “after its kind.” That is to say, he made each species to fit its particular niche in our world. He created a place for each, and each for its place.

That is true of you and me, also. The Apostle Paul spoke of God’s creation with these words: “The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, neither is he served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things. He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live, and move, and have our being…’” (Acts 17:24-28)

God is nearby, even this very moment. Let us honor Him as our Maker and worship Him as our God.

(Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

Bring to mind, please, a tree which you have admired: a tall tree – a monarch of the forest, perhaps. There it stands, a magnificent specimen, towering against the sky.

Now, if you please, imagine that you must climb that tree to the very top, with a 60-pound pack on your back. As soon as you reach the top, you must leave your burden and descend, only to start up all over again with a fresh load. Furthermore, you must climb this tree 12 times during the day. And you must make a similar number of trips up the tree every day in the future.

That assignment would quickly wear down the strongest man, wouldn’t it? Fortunately, no one is likely to give any of us such an order. But our imaginary task is no more than the actual task which the tree itself must perform every day, if it is to live and thrive.

The weight which every tree must lift is water, and it can amount to quite a lot. A large birch tree, for instance, requires about 90 gallons of water per day in the growing season. That means lifting 720 pounds up to 100 feet or more – or, in the case of the really tall tress, up to 300 feet or more.

We would grunt and groan a good deal if we had to carry such a load, but trees manage the task very efficiently and quietly. How do they do it? Scientists have pondered that question for many years, but they really don’t know the answer.

Four possible solutions have been investigated. First, the water might be pushed up from below, either by “root pressure” or by capillarity (which is the tendency of water to rise in very thin tubes, or capillaries). But neither root pressure nor capillarity can provide anywhere near enough force to push a water column to the top of tall trees.

The second possibility would be that the leaves at the top of the tree suck up the water from the roots. But such suction pressure is limited by atmospheric pressure, and can only lift a column of water about 33 feet.

A third possibility might be that trees raise the water by stages, with cells acting as miniature pumping stations. But this was found to be just an empty idea when an experimenter introduced picric acid into the water vessels in tress. This poisonous substance, which would have killed the cells as it rose, thus shutting down their supposed pumping capacity, did not stop the continued ascent of the tainted water.

Scientists studying the problem know of only one other possible mechanism, and that is the force with which water molecules cling to each other. This force, called “cohesion,” has been measured, and was found to be more than adequate to lift water to the top of the tallest tree. In this theory, as water is evacuated from leaves into the surrounding air, it exerts a cohesive tug on the column of water stretching down the twig and branch to the trunk and thence to the root. It is the best answer science has been able to come up with.

But this solution also has grave problems. For one thing, it depends upon the water column being continuous from leaf to root. But experiments have not verified that this is the case, for very often gaps have been found in the water columns.

Another very serious objection came to light when it was found that if a tree trunk is sawed more than half-way through, and then sawed again, a foot or so above or below this cut, but from the other side, the tree continues to live though it ought to die. Theoretically, all its water vessels have been severed, but the tree may not even wilt. (“Plants and Water”, J. Sutcliffe, Edward Arnold Ltd., London, 1968, p. 75.) The tree will, of course, have to be braced for much of its support has been destroyed.

It all comes down to this: After a century of study by some of the finest minds in the scientific community, no one really knows how a tree waters its leaves. The tree applies principles which continue to defy man’s understanding. Yet trees have no mind at all with which to organize their components. Can it be that non-intelligence can create such living wonders as we see trees to be? Impossible! The trees have not created themselves! They were obviously designed by a very great intelligence. We call that intelligence God.

Wisdom is one of God’s chief characteristics. As the Bible says: “By wisdom Yahweh [that is, God] founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.” (Proverbs 3:19)

But God is much more than Intelligence. “God is light” (1 John 1:5), the Bible says, and this speaks of his holiness. God is also a “consuming fire” (Hebrew 12:29), and this refers to His role as Judge over all the earth. Finally, and best of all, the Bible says “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In God’s love, mercy is added to judgment, and salvation is offered to the world, through His Son, Christ Jesus.

It is true that only God could make a tree. It is equally true that only God can give us hope and peace and forgiveness.

(Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)

Most of the time, the Norway lemming is one of the most ordinary creatures you could imagine. It is only when his generation sets its mind on moving that the lemming becomes out of the ordinary.

Norway lemmings are shy little rodents which inhabit the waste spaces of northern Scandinavia. They like to feed upon roots or shoots, or tender twigs, or grass: whatever vegetation is at hand. They raise their families in the summer time and, like all small animals, try their best to avoid predators.

As long as things go on like this, the normal routines of life and occasional violent death occupy their colonies in the alpine meadows. But about every fourth year, unusual things begin to happen, and build to a climax that ends in the mass destruction of many thousands of lemmings.

The onset of what are called “lemming years” is first signaled by a major change in breeding patterns. Instead of two annual litters of about 5 each, female lemmings produce four litters of 6 to 8 each. This very nearly trebles the population in a very short time, without any commensurate increase in available food. By Autumn, the animals are no longer shy, as they are driven by hunger to gather food where and whenever they can find it.

Eventually, something tells the lemmings that it is time to migrate. In Scandinavia the mass movements always start from one of five regions, and follow old paths to the same goals. In the far north of Norway, for instance, the goal appears always to be either the Lofoten Islands to the northwest, or the Gulf of Bothnia to the southwest.

Once begun, a strange “migration fixation” comes over the scurrying horde. Though scarcity of food triggered the migration, after the flood of lemmings has reached ample food supplies in the lower valleys they will not turn aside nor slow the march in order to fill their stomachs.

Nor do they allow obstacles to turn them from their appointed course. Even though they are not good swimmers, the leading animals plunge recklessly into swift rivers, urged on by ceaseless pressure from the following ranks. Thousands often perish in such crossings, but the rest push on heedlessly.

Neither do the migrating lemmings make any effort to evade the onslaughts of wolves and other carnivores, including legions of predator birds, which swarm to the feasting grounds. Indeed, nothing stops the lemming’s advance, as long as there are lemmings left, until they reach the sea. And when that happens, the remnant of the horde keeps right on marching into the fatal waters. Rarely are there more than a few survivors.

Back on their home grounds, the lemming population is gradually built up again by the few who did not emigrate. Lemmings will be scarce for a year or two, but after another four years there is usually once again a population explosion, and the migration is repeated.

There are puzzling aspects to this periodic pattern of self-destruction. We noted, for example, that the condition is largely brought about by a sudden increase in the number of young produced. Thus, the migrations are not simply a unique method of handling a problem of surplus numbers. If lemmings had “evolved” this solution, they would have been better served had they omitted the spurt in breeding during “lemming years.” It makes no evolutionary sense.

The fact is that no one knows what causes the periodic massive jump in numbers, nor why they behave so strangely while on the march. They respond to orders that we can neither detect nor comprehend, and which seem in some ways to be harmful rather than helpful to the species. Nevertheless, the system works: The over-all population of lemmings (and the consequent numbers of predators) remains in balance with their environment.

It should be sufficient for us that Someone understands, and has the situation well in hand. We can rest assured that the One who created lemmings and established the pattern for their generations is well able to see to their needs… and to ours also. God Himself tells us in the Bible that, ““… my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” says Yahweh [that is, God]. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The Bible also assures us that this God, whose thoughts and deeds are incalculably beyond us, is also the Preserver and the Rock of refuge for His children in time of trouble. How comforting this is! How wonderful to know that when we reach the limits of our understanding, or strength, or resources, God’s power to help is yet unlimited. Let us draw near with our hearts to this God of all!

(Scripture is quoted from the World English Bible translation.)