It would have to be a fool who fails to see that only God could make
all the creatures that are found in the world. Let's consider one of
these.
Most of us have heard how a bat can fly about in total darkness and
never hit an object that might be in the way. Experiments have been
made, blindfolding these creatures and turning them loose in rooms
strung with piano wire, twine and all kinds of things. But the bat
just flies all round these objects and never once scrapes a wing against
them. God has furnished it with a "radar system" far more
sensitive than any man has invented. It can produce a sound with its
mouth so high-pitched that humans cannot hear its full range. These
sound waves strike objects in the path of flight and send back echoes
to the bat's ears. The echoes tell the bat how it must turn in the
air to avoid colliding with objects or with one another.
The bat sleeps hanging upside down, but before doing so spends perhaps
half an hour cleaning itself. So you see they are not dirty animals
as many think.
God has given the bat a sense of approaching scarcity of food as winter
draws near, and before this occurs it gorges on food, putting on a
nice layer of fat. After this is done some migrate to a warmer climate,
up to a thousand miles away. Most, however, retire to a dark place
(usually a cave) where they hang by their hind feet and hibernate for
three to six months. During this time the fat stored in their bodies
sustains them until warm weather returns, when they become active again
in finding the insects that also have again become plentiful.
The bat is a rather gruesome-looking creature, but is beneficial to
man in destroying large quantities of harmful insects. It has been
estimated that they eat half their weight in insects in one night.
Altogether, the bats in America probably eat thousands of tons of insects
each year that would otherwise harm farmers' crops.
Bats aren't able to reason why they act as they do and could never
have developed such wonderful abilities by themselves. God is the One
who has created them and He watches over them, providing their skills
and caring for them in all their unusual ways.
The bat likes to carry on many of its activities in the dark and is
equipped to do so. We, too, by nature, love a form of darkness that
shuts us out of God's blessings: "And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil" John 3:19.
When the Lord Jesus came into the world, He became "the Light
of the world" and invites everyone to come out of darkness into
His marvelous light. When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal
Saviour, He delights to give us a new title: "Children of light" and
as such we have the privilege of shining for Him.
Copied with permission from Messages of God's Love.
More articles in The Wonders of God's Creation (Volume 1-4) by Sidney R. Gill, also published
by Bible Truth Publishers. |