The Wonders of God’s Creation
We might think that God is not very interested in a little animal like a salamander. But as our verse tells us, He not only brought all the little things into being, but “saw that it was good” after He had done so. One reason He made them was to benefit mankind by helping to keep in check the harmful bugs and insects that damage man’s food supply. They do this very well.
Most salamanders (or newts) keep hidden in the daytime. Sometimes after a heavy rain they appear in street gutters or along paved sidewalks. Because they show up when things are soaking wet, they are often called “Water Dogs.”
There are over three hundred kinds, ranging in size from one inch to five feet long. Most are about the length of your middle finger (not counting the tail). Since they must keep their skins moist, they live near ponds or swamps, or under logs or wet leaves, and some in underground burrows.
One unusual species in the tropics spends its entire life in trees, sometimes a hundred feet above ground. It makes its home in plants that grow on tree trunks and hold water in their leaves. Such salamanders have very flat bodies, so they can move around in these tight places.
They also have webbed toes and “suction-cup” feet, so they can scamper over tree leaves easily.
Another interesting species, the Red Eft, is only about three inches long. It starts life as an egg carefully wrapped in a leaf by its mother, which she fastens just below the surface of a pond. When it hatches, it drops as a larva to the bottom of the pond where it lives for about a year. Emerging from its shell in the fall, it crawls out on land as an air-breathing little creature, brick-red in color, and heads for a winter hiding place in a rotten log or other safe place. In the spring it comes out and is quite happy to spend most of its time waiting for a fly or bug to come close. When this happens it flicks out its sticky tongue—so fast it can hardly be seen —and captures it.
Newts, like lizards, have the ability to replace lost or injured parts of their bodies. If a tail or leg is bitten off it will grow back quickly, just as healthy as ever. Some have even been known to lose an eye and have a new one replace it.
We might wonder why God put these odd little animals on earth, but they are just part of His whole design in balancing the rest of His creation. How wonderfully He has equipped each one to fit its own way of life—whether below the ground, in the water, on the surface, or up in a tree top.
Some teachers, who don’t believe in God or don’t believe the Bible, claim all things came by evolution. But we know the truth of Scripture: “There is but one God ... and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” 1 Corinthians 8:66But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Corinthians 8:6). Happy is that person who recognizes Him not only as Creator, but as Lord and Saviour, as well.
ML-12/06/1981