Most people who live in the city have never had the pleasure of listening to frogs sing. During warm spring and summer nights their chorus of singing is something not easily forgotten. Most frogs spend their lives in or near water, but some are land residents. These must seek out damp places to live since their skin requires constant moisture. They have special glands which help keep their skin moist by supplying a coating which slows moisture evaporation. This makes their skin seem cold and wet to the touch.
Frogs have no ears, and their protruding eyes (which can be drawn in when the frog senses danger) are only attracted to moving objects. However, they have sensitive organs that transmit sound, and they also have a good sense of smell. All frogs are excellent swimmers.
In parts of Africa frogs disappear when their ponds dry up—they bury themselves in the bottom of the pond. They can exist like this for months. Then when torrential rains come and the ponds fill again, they come out of hiding. Some superstitious natives, seeing frogs after a rainstorm, mistakenly think they have come from the sky.
The females lay thousands of eggs in the spring, floating them in the water in large jelly-like masses. There, warmed by the sun, they hatch into tadpoles. The fish-like tadpoles do not look like frogs. Their little bodies have long tails but no legs. Nor do they have eyelids or lungs. They remain that way for many weeks, breathing like fish through their four pairs of gills. Eventually hind legs appear—just little “buds” in front of the tail at first—soon followed by front legs.
Then eyelids and jaws develop, and the tail gets shorter and shorter. Finally, when the four legs have developed, the tail absorbs completely. The gills also disappear, and lungs develop, changing it into an air-breathing frog. It announces the change by croaking (singing), a habit it continues the rest of its life.
But think of this: where frogs live in moist vegetation and cannot get to water, the eggs are laid in damp leaves or rotten wood. These do not hatch out as tadpoles, but as little frogs with their parts already ford! It is easy to see that the Lord God, the Creator, made this special provision for these particular frogs. It did not and could not happen by “evolution,” as some try to teach.
As the opening verse expresses, the Lord God at all times sees each part of His creation and supplies even the frogs and tadpoles with everything they need. Solomon knew that God is watching over people as well and said, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3).
When He looks so kindly on you does He see someone who loves Him, knows Him as Saviour and Lord, and thanks Him for His great kindness?
ML-04/04/1982