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PLANTS
Marcelo Augusto de Carvalho
GENESIS 1.9-13
- On the third day, God separated the dry part to
one place, and the net part to
another. As the
waters "under the firmament" still formed an ocean without coastal
edge, God made dry land emerge from the ocean, and collected it in deeper
basins constituting a network of seas.
- Then made the
rivers, lakes, seas and great oceans with all its beauty and majesty. Thus it
provided the ideal place for both terrestrial and aquatic plants to be born.
- Plants were
the first living beings to exist on the planet.
- As soon as they appeared, the herbs already brought seeds and the trees already
produced fruit.
- This gives us the understanding that the "dry land" already had
fertile soils suitable for plants.
- Everything has been created in a fully developed way and
working well.
- The newly created world had the old appearance, but it was
extremely new.
-
And the amazing
thing was how God created them in such a perfect way as in such varied numbers.
Incredible was also that out of nowhere, only by the power of His Word appeared
the wonderful plants that cover the entire surface of the Earth.
SCIENTISTS, AFTER so many
YEARS OF STUDIES, HAVE DIVIDED AND CATALOGUED THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS OF PLANT
SPECIES.
Well,
but a question is needed here; for what specific purpose did God create the
plants?
- No created being is self-sufficient. Everyone needs the
creator's maintaining energy both to come into existence and to stay alive. This energy,
He left in the light, and in some gauze of the
atmosphere as carbon; Just capture them to perpetuate life.
- But we were not created with the
ability to directly take advantage of all these nutrients; God gave this task
to the plants. By
the process of
photosynthesis they take carbon dioxide from the air, from the soil water,
and with sunlight, combine these two substances to form sugar, which is the
material that constructs all living things. Only plants have this ability to
make Carbon and make it digestible for animals. Even carnivores only live by so
many; they do not eat them directly, but they eat animals that feed on plants,
thus supplying their physical need indirectly.
- Plants also purify the air so that the
animals continue to breathe. They recharge in the air the oxygen that is
consumed in the breathing and combustion of food, and remove the carbon dioxide
that these processes manufacture.
Well, what lesson does God want to teach us
in plant creation?
- He repeated it himself when he was here on Earth.
Let us read Matthew 6:25-34.
- People in Jesus' time did not sleep
thinking about their survival. Most of his listeners were very poor, had no
money, no home and many even starved. Some sold everything they had to eat, and
even their children to pay their debts. His life was bitter, unhappy with
anxiety.
- For these Jesus taught the lesson; it
is not necessary to panic when something seems to be missing that we need. He
who created all things to sustain us alive will not miss anything we really
need.
- We were also concerned about how they
got; How am I going to pay for my college studies? How am I going to get a job?
Will my health always be as good as today? When am I going to get married? How
am I supposed to win in life if there are so many competing with me?
- Desperate with these tremendous
restlessness many commit follies; stay asleep, work too hard, forget their
communion with God, abandon living with their parents by becoming petty and
selfish. What for? Is this necessary?
- When we look at nature we see that we
have no reason to fear our future; God is ahead of us, and
all we have to do is
trust him to suppress our daily needs.
Let's
look at some broad
A) Jesus cited the example
of BIRDS.
- Could you need approximately the
number of birds that exist? If you say 90, you will have said only 10% of the
number of Brazilian birds that reach almost 900, of the 1600 believed to exist
all over the world. With 1,600 species, there are therefore millions of birds
in each of them because each year they reproduce quickly and numerously in most
cases. But the interesting thing is that Jesus said that although there are so
many and even though they do not sow or keep to feed themselves the next day
our heavenly Father sustains them. An example of this is the well-known hummingbird.
- Thanks to his bones and special muscle
structures, he is the only bird that can fly with his legs up. It also flies
forward, backward, up, down and sideways. To take flight from your nest, you
start to tap your wings while you are sitting, reaching almost the full speed
of the moment you take off. It can stop in the air by collecting nectar from
the plants. It hits its wings so quickly that we can hardly see, but in fact it
knocks far less wings than other larger birds, because it moves by flapping its
wings both up and down and thus does not waste movements.
- But for this to do so, it has been
estimated that the hummingbird spends ten times more energy than a man running
14.5 km on time. It is said that with an initial discharge of energy it can
accelerate from zero to
- To perform these tremendous functions
he feeds on nectar. But this alone is not necessary; he needs to eat a lot. If
we were to compare what he eats with the amount we do, we'd have to eat
- He needs to eat a lot; God gives you every day
what you need to live.
B) FISH.
- The largest fish in the world is the shark whale,
which can measure l8 meters and weigh l5
tons. The world's
smallest fish found to date lives in the Philippines; has no name, but
- For them and everyone else, God
created plankton, which
is animal and plant life that floats freely in the oceans and in fresh water.
There is zooplankton-animal and phytoplankton-vegetable.
- Although it seems unbelievable,
plankton despite being tiny is the basis for all marine life. Your number is incalculable. It takes
billions and billions of individual plankton corpuscles to maintain the life of
a single large fish, which devours smaller ones, which in turn devour smaller
ones, which in turn feed on plankton. Large sea fish do not always follow this
food chain. Whales eat directly from the source and don't feed on anything
else. Now imagine the amount needed to feed her!
- Despite this they eat enough for every day.
C) SELVÁTICOS ANIMALS.
- Everyone has their favorite menu and God sustains
them every day.
- I'm asking you. what is the most abundant mammal on Earth? The only
answer can be the bat.
Due to living far from man, in caves, suffers very little predatory action of
it and therefore proliferates frighteningly. It is estimated that they are
around 1 billion more. It needs proline - a substance that helps produce
connective tissue on its wings, such as tyrosine- substance that stimulates the
growth of its chicks when being received through breast milk. He gets these
substances by pollinating these plants.
- Another example is the anteana; toothless animal, basically lives on
ants and termites. The feet have very strong and long claws that are intended
to open anthills and the very tough termites. The ant harvest he makes it with
the tongue that is stretched to about
- In many cases, because we live in a
world where sin has altered the daily life support plans, animals reach periods
where they starve
and deprive their body of nutrients. Miraculously, God has endowed them with a special adaptation system
for these occasions that were not planned by him, but which because of sin,
exist.
- Some store food, just for winter as is the case of squirrels and
beavers. Others move
locality, going to regions where there is food at the time when they lack
the same in their place of origin. This is the case of millions of birds that
migrate in winter. And there are those who change their diet when they cannot find what usually,
or when it is not possible to eat the common food. The whelk, which usually
eats crustaceans, starts to eat molluscs when it becomes scarce. Some birds
that feed on insects in summer, eat seeds in winter. Horses eat grass in summer
and oatmeal in winter.
- Finally there are those who hibernate. They eat a lot
during the seasons that produce a lot of food and when winter comes, they sleep
the whole season, feeding on the energy they have accumulated in the body.
We then see
that there is no reason to worry about our daily maintenance. God has made us
and has taken upon Himself the responsibilities of keeping us.
APPEAL: Just
as He feeds animals, as He fed Israel 40 years in the wilderness every day by
giving them water, shade, clothes, and animals, God will sustain us in
everything every day. Just trust and work. His promise is the promise of
Ephesians 3:20. Will you trust?
SOURCE
Adventures of Creation. Dr. Haroldo G, Coffin. Casa Publicadora
Brasileira, Tatuí-SP, Brazil. 1993 edition.
Youth Inspiration. Casa Publicadora
Brasileira, Tatuí-SP, Brazil. Editions from 1977 to 2005.
Pr. Marcelo Augusto De Carvalho -
April 1997 São Paulo SP Brazil