Daily Devotional – June 10

Biology

Have you ever thought about a spider web saving a bird? Every year, many birds are killed when they fly into window glass. Either they can’t see the window glass, or they see the reflections of nearby trees, sky, and other objects - either way, they slam into the window glass and are killed. It has been found, however, that spiders that spin orb webs (spiral wheel shaped webs) use silk that reflects ultraviolet light. We can’t see the UV light, as it is outside the range of human vision, but many birds and insects can see it. Biologists have discovered that the use of this UV-reflecting web material serves two important purposes:

1. It attracts insects like a neon sign; some webs even display a flowerlike pattern.
2. It warns birds not to fly into the web as if to say, “I don’t want to rebuild this web, so please avoid.”

The Arnold Glass Corporation has copied this UV reflecting property by coating their glass with criss-crossing UV reflecting strips. This coating is invisible to humans but not to birds. Birds make every effort to avoid this UV-treated glass. Nature is filled with design ideas, but of course, God put them there when He created the world! His power is displayed through what He has made. Who would have thought that spider webs would lead to protecting birds!

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

~ Psalm 33:6-9

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

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Daily Devotional – June 9

Design

From peacocks to porcupines; bacteria to blue whales; raindrops to oceans - everyone in the world sees the design in nature. This is called general revelation. God has communicated about Himself to all persons, in all places, throughout history. He has done that through nature. When someone studies a leaf, the Moon, or the smallest cell, he sees evidence of order, design, and purpose.  Who is the One who created this or that? Who is the designer? That should drive the person to find the designer.

Who is this Designer? That search leads to what is called special revelation, that is, the Bible. It is there, in Scripture, that a person discovers the Designer, Creator, and Redeemer of the universe. Then, the God of the Bible will tell him about how sin entered the world, how a Redeemer was sent, and how he can spend eternity with the God of the universe. Special revelation is “special” because it is the key that opens the door between Heaven and Earth. Nature (general revelation) is meant to be the drawing card that leads us to the God of the Bible (special revelation).

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

~ Romans 1:20

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

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Daily Devotional – June 8

Microbiology

Every microsecond, every cell in your body is converting food to usable energy in order to run the chemical processes of your body. The primary source of the cell’s energy is a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Your body literally makes and consumes an amount of ATP equivalent to the entire weight of your body each day. This ATP is then converted into the various chemicals and components needed to keep your body operating. So, where does all this ATP come from? Inside the mitochondria within each of our over ten trillion cells are little spinning molecular motors that operate at close to 99.99% efficiency (gasoline motors operate at about 35% efficiency.)1 These ATP generating motors are so small that 100,000 of them would have to be lined up end to end to reach across 1 millimeter. Also, they spin at 1000 RPM while spewing out ATP molecules.

But where do these motors come from?

1. These motors are made using information coming from the DNA molecule.
2. In order to open the DNA molecule, energy from ATP is needed.
3. In order to make the ATP, the motor is needed.

The information needed to make the motors is in DNA. It takes the motor’s ATP to open the DNA, but we can’t make the ATP unless the information on how to make the motor is provided. Complicated isn’t it! All the parts, processes, and instructions needed to be present and fully functioning from the beginning. The more we learn about the operation of our bodies, the more we see that an incredibly intelligent Designer made every cell within our bodies.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

~ Psalm 145:21

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 7

Biology

Marine iguanas are excellent swimmers and search for their food underwater. Sharks, however, love to eat marine iguanas and have sensitive hearing. They can hear the heartbeat of an iguana 12 feet away. So what’s an iguana to do? Stop its heart from beating?

Incredibly, an iguana can stop its heart for up to 45 minutes! How do evolutionists explain this ability? A creature’s ability to stop its heart requires some major internal modifications. For an iguana to stop its heart for 45 minutes without death is astonishing! Only a wise Creator would endow a marine iguana with this unbelievable ability – thereby giving glory to Himself.

Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvelous works among all nations.

~ 1 Chronicles 16:24

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

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Daily Devotional – June 6

Cosmology

From the beginning of time, the night sky has caused us to look up and wonder how many stars are there. How far away are they? Early astronomers thought they were just beyond our reach up in the sky and counted about 2000 stars.

Stars are so far away that we do not measure their distance from Earth in miles but in light years. The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. If you could travel at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, it would take 4.3 years to get there. One light year is about 6 trillion miles. Proxima Centauri is 4.3 light years or 25,278,089,104,689 miles away. It is much easier to say 4.3 light years. Our Milky Way is about 70,000 light years across or about 411,503,776,122,852,541 miles. Many stars in the universe seem to be billions of light years away. Psalm 103:11 (NKJV) tells us, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.” The great distances to the stars help us understand God’s great mercy towards us. In our natural state, we are in rebellion against God and do not deserve forgiveness. Yet in God’s great mercy, He forgives the repentant sinner. How great is God’s mercy? Great enough that He was willing to die to bring us back into fellowship with Him. Just as the distance to the stars seems beyond comprehension, so there is no limit to His love for us. Step outside on a starry night and gaze at the vast distances of these stars; that is the magnitude of God’s mercy!

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

~ Psalm 103:11

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 5

Biology

When looking at a pond, have you ever noticed bugs walking on the water? These bugs move across the surface of the pond so quickly that they are almost impossible to see. What you probably saw was a water strider. This small insect uses the surface tension of the water AND the design of its legs to walk on water.

The water strider is designed with feet that are covered with thousands of fuzzy, wax-coated hairs. Each of these tiny hairs is also covered with even smaller grooves. The leg hair of a water strider is vastly narrower than a human hair. When wet, the microscopic grooves trap air - which allows the water strider to essentially “float” on a cushion of air across the water’s surface. But a property of water called “surface tension” also comes into effect. Water molecules are attracted to each other and like to stay together. This creates surface tension that acts as a delicate membrane. Water striders move quickly across this water membrane reaching speeds equivalent to a person moving at 400 miles per hour. Engineers are now studying the legs of water striders in order to develop new water repellent fabrics and paints. They even speculate that water striders may lead to the design of miniature, floating robots to monitor water quality. Engineers are only copying what the Great Engineer designed in the beginning.

He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered:...

~ Psalm 111:4

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

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Daily Devotional – June 4

History

Oceans cover about 70% of our planet’s surface and contain enough water that, if the Earth’s surface were completely flat, the water would cover the whole planet to a depth of over 8000 feet (1.7 miles). Based on actual observation, the Earth is the only planet in the entire universe to have liquid water on its surface.

Streams, rivers, and other sources of land runoff are continually flowing into the oceans and dumping various salts and dissolved minerals into that water. Using today’s rate of salt input and output, scientists estimate that the oceans could be AT MOST 62 million years old. This is not the actual age but a maximum age. Even if the oceans started as pure distilled water (which seems highly unlikely), the salt concentration would have reached today’s level in about 62 million years. Yet, evolutionists tell us the oceans are 3 BILLION years old. If that were true, the oceans should be FAR saltier! The reason the oceans currently have “62 million years-worth of salt” could be that God created the oceans with some salt, at the beginning. Then the Genesis Flood would have very rapidly added salt. The amount of salt in the world’s ocean water is strong evidence that the Earth is far younger than the billions of years required for evolution. The amount of salt is actually quite consistent with a biblical age of about 6,000 years.

The sea is his, and he made it

~ Psalm 95:5

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

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Daily Devotional – June 3

Geology

Scientists believe they have discovered three times more water deep within the Earth’s mantle than in all the oceans of the world. But before you grab your bathing suit and surfboard and book a trip to where the Sun doesn’t shine, consider that this vast reservoir of water is located 420 miles below the earth’s surface (50 times lower than the deepest oil well). It is also locked up as hydrated molecules within the Earth’s magma and rock crystal structure.

What makes this discovery so significant is the fact that scientists cannot even explain where all the water that fills our current oceans came from, let alone more water locked deep within the Earth. This water is a total mystery to scientists studying the Earth from an evolutionary, old-age perspective. All naturalistic models for the Earth’s formation require enormous amounts of heat as materials slowly coalesced to form our planet - billions of years ago. These processes would have driven water out of the Earth’s core and left little on the surface. So, speculation has proposed that our oceans came from vast numbers of comets hitting the Earth and depositing their water. This also does not work because water contained in comets has been shown to have a very different composition of isotopes than water found on Earth.

The Bible states that the Earth was recently created “out of water” (2 Peter 3:5 NKJV) and made for mankind’s benefit (Psalm 115:16). Finding oceans filled with water (and even more water deep below the surface) is neither surprising nor a mystery.

Towards the end of the Flood of Noah’s day, the mountains rose up, and the waters rushed off the continents into the oceans. This is where the waters that flooded the Earth now reside. Much of this water may have originally come from sources deep within the Earth when “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up” (Genesis 7:11 NKJV) approximately 4,350 years ago.

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

~ 2 Peter 3:5-6

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – June 2

Biology

Prairie dogs are not dogs, but they are rodents classified with the squirrel family. They live in underground tunnels and chambers that create entire “towns” housing hundreds of prairie dogs on the plains of North America. Their underground tunnels contain multiple rooms - including bedrooms, nurseries, and bathrooms. These burrows even include a “listening room” close to the entrance, where the prairie dog listens for danger before going outside. One would think that the air would become stale in these underground burrows, however, the entire complex is nicely ventilated.

Each home has at least two openings. Prairie dogs surround these two holes with piles of dirt but always make one mound taller than the other mound. When a breeze blows across the top of these mounds, a pressure differential occurs, causing air to be aspirated up, creating a partial vacuum in the tunnels, and thereby drawing air into the lower opening. These prairie dogs have engineered a passive ventilation system that uses the Bernoulli principle! God created these animals with the instinct to build one mound higher than the other. This creates a draft or chimney effect that draws fresh air into the tunnel and allows it to circulate throughout. In essence, during the summer, the prairie dog town is “air conditioned.” When the above ground temperature exceeds 100oF, the burrow temperature one foot below is a comfortable 55oF. During the winter, the snow covers the “chimney”, not allowing the cold air to enter the tunnels. How does evolution explain this engineering ability? God gave the engineering instinct to these creatures, so they can survive extreme weather conditions found on the northern Great Plains.

To him who alone doeth great wonders.…

~ Psalm 136:4

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

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Daily Devotional – June 1

Anatomy

What do the Eiffel Tower and the thigh bone have in common? The 1889 World’s Fair was coming up, and Mr. Eiffel wanted to win the architect’s contest by designing the most daring structure. The winning design would commemorate this great event.

Gustave Eiffel went to an unusual source for his design idea: the human thigh bone. The thigh bone connects to the hip and extends sideways, causing the body’s weight to be moved off-center. When the thigh bone’s head was examined internally, it was found to have beautifully curving lines from the head, while other bone fibers crossed over it. This bony crisscross pattern is like a diagram showing the lines of stress within the loaded structure. In other words, the thigh bone was strengthened in exactly the manner and direction in which the strength was required.

Mr. Eiffel simply copied the thigh bone structure using wrought iron in place of bone and designed the now famous, flared tower. Even though Mr. Eiffel won the contest, the competing architects scoffed and predicted the tower would collapse under its own weight. It still stands today, a century later. But of course it would; Mr. Eiffel just copied what has been allowing us to stand all these years, our thigh bone. Maybe we should rename this famous structure the “Thigh Tower” … or better yet – “God’s Tower”. After all, the Eiffel Tower is really His design.

Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about

~ Job 10:8

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.