There are more than 200 kinds of shrews throughout the world, with 30 kinds in North America. They are among the smallest of the animals—the tiniest is so small it could be hidden in a man's closed fist and weighs less than a dime. The largest is about a foot long, plus a tail of the same length and weighs about a pound. But in spite of their small size, they will attack, and with their sharp, needle-like teeth they will kill animals more than twice their size, often killing other shrews as well.
The reason for such fierceness is that they are always hungry, and many have to eat their weight in food every day in order to stay alive. A boy or girl weighing 50 pounds would have to eat about 200 hamburgers a day to keep up with them! Do you think you could do that?
Most shrews look like a mouse with a pointed nose. Because much of their food consists of worms, insects and lizards in the soil or under a cover of leaves, the Creator has given them long snouts with which to root out these creatures.
An African species, known as the elephant shrew, has an extra-long, flexible nose, like a miniature elephant's trunk.
Actually a shrew will eat almost any living thing it can handle, including small birds and snakes, mice, frogs and chipmunks. Because their tremendous appetites cause them to eat so many mice and insects, farmers are usually glad to have them on their property.
Most shrews are good swimmers, but one known as the water shrew outdoes them all and can stay under water a long time, devouring fish, frogs, crabs, etc. If its food gives out it will die of hunger in less than a day's time, so it also has to eat some of the land creatures the others do.
Most of them make grassy nests in the side of a bank or in short burrows where half a dozen or so little ones arrive in the spring. The mother takes care of them, nursing them for a short time, then training them to search for solid food. In just a few weeks she leaves them entirely on their own.
Do you think God cares about shrews? Yes, we know He does for the Bible tells us, "In [His] hand is the soul of every living thing" (Job 12:1010In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:10)), and He watches over all His creation, even though sin has spoiled so much of it.
We admire these little creatures but cannot help but think how they remind us of Satan who "walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is very real, and we can only be kept from allowing him to tempt us into evil things if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, and in earnest prayer come to Him who "is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Is He your Savior? Is He a refuge and strength to you?