GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 31 ~ ~ Psalm 40:5~ ~”Many, Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is no one to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.”
In years past, there have been cartoons or comics showing ants invading a peaceful family picnic, carrying off whole sandwiches, and pretty much the whole menu. They’d march single file and just tend to their thieving business.
Even when we see them in “real life”, they seem to be following each other by sight, they are so close together. Yet, when they invade our homes, they aren’t seeing each other, yet, when you see one, you WILL see more.
It’s obvious they have another way of communicating the location of the “mother lode” of food the original ant found.
It is pheromones that are used for chemical communication by ants to mark their trails. When an ant finds a good source of food, it returns to the nest, leaving an invisible scent trail. Its fellow ants also use this trail to find the food. As long as they still find food they will continue to reinforce the scent. Once the supply is exhausted and ants no longer follow the trail, it disappears within a few minutes. This chemical scent is so specific that another species of ant will not recognize the trail if he stumbles upon it. This helps protect the ants’ food source from being discovered by other ants.
Other insects use individualized phermones for this, and for various other reasons.
Take, for example, the female silkworm moth. When she is ready to mate, she releases a very small amount of a chemical. This chemical, called a pheromone, can attract a male silkworm moth from up to two miles away. Even though the female has released only 100-millionth of a gram, the male can sense the chemical. It spreads great distances too. A male silk moth has been found to travel over 30 miles to mate! Many other insects use similar pheromones to attract mates.
Insects use many chemicals every day. One study shows that some have up to 100 different chemicals in their communication and defense arsenals.
One famous discovery was the weaponry of the bombardier beetle. This insect was found to have two separate internal reservoirs: one for hydrogen peroxide and the other for hydroquinone. When threatened, this beetle sprays both together where they combine with an enzyme in an exothermic reaction to produce a burning spray of 210 degrees.
Using a similar line of defense, the wood ant produces formic acid from its rear end when its mound is threatened. The acid is so acrid that one can actually smell it!
The Monarch butterfly caterpillar feeds exclusively on the milkweeds. The leaves of these plants impart a foul taste to the butterflies, making them unpalatable to predators. Its toxin is strong enough to make a blue jay vomit, and serves to teach avoidance.
The Great Elohim, the Creator God, has so many amazing ways for animals to communicate and deal with those around them. He has given us amazing ways to do the same thing.
He has given us the greatest gift—His Word! He hasn’t given that to any other creature.
He has also made us in His image and given us a spirit. This is again something that He hasn’t given to any other creature, no matter how amazing in other ways they might be.
He has given us dominion over all of the rest of creation—to control it in His name and with His wisdom.
Best of all, He has given us Salvation! That of course is needed because of sin, which was the responsibility of man turning against the Word of God. That is what made the entire creation fall with man. Even the universe has been deteriorating since that first sin.
“For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”
But Jesus paid the price for that sin so that we who believe the full scope of that can be saved, and in the end, all of creation will be re-made.
Meanwhile, before the death from illness and age, killing, etc. that came because of sin, which He knew was coming, He equipped creatures with the ability to survive in the fallen world. So had He done with us.
After we’re saved, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, comfort us, and teach us, and we have Jesus to be with us always. WHAT A WONDERFUL GOD WE HAVE!!!
Matthew 28:20 ~ ~ “…and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”