Daily Devotional – June 28

Biology

One of the most remarkable builders in the animal kingdom is the beaver. The sound of trickling water stimulates the beaver to plug the flow by building a dam. If it is a sluggish stream, the dam will be built straight across. If it is a fast-flowing stream, the beaver will construct a dam with a convex curve in the upstream direction. First, they push strong sticks down into the stream bed. Next, they fill the gaps with branches. Finally, they place heavier rocks or pieces of wood on top. Beavers know how to compensate for the stresses and strains of water pushing against the dam. On the upstream side of the dam, the wall is vertical and on the downstream side, the wall slopes at a 45 degree angle. Beavers also build outlet sluices for removal of overflow water.

Dams can be built short or long, high or low. One beaver dam was 1800 feet long, 9 feet high and 18 feet wide, strong enough for a horse and rider to use as a natural bridge! When we build dams, great engineering is needed to stop the flow and resist water pressure. Do we say that the engineering of our dams happen by accident and chance? It takes years of schooling to be a good dam builder, but beavers know instinctively how to build a dam. Even if a beaver is born in a zoo and let go in the wild, it still knows how to build a dam. Beavers do not need to learn how to build a dam, they just know; it’s called instinct. If there is instinct, there must be an instinct maker and that instinct maker is God.

Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

~1 Chronicles 16:8

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

References for this devotional.