The 18-inch Duck-Billed Platypus, which is found only in Australia and New Guinea, looks like a mixture of several animals and birds. It has a bill like a duck, fur like a beer, a lizard’s short limbs, claws of a muskrat, monkey-like cheek pouches and lays eggs like a turtle. No wonder evolutionists can’t fire where it came from.
But the Bible record assures us this is another of God’s creatures, adapted by Him to its way of life. Its duck-like bill makes it possible to get food from the muddy bottom of a stream or pond. Its beaver’s fur, which is waterproof, keeps it warm in and out of water. The short limbs help it to cross its two-foot-long burrow easy. It is able to store food in its cheek pouches while continuing its hunting. And its webbed feet make it an excellent swimmer. In addition to all of these features its hind legs are equipped with poisonous spurs for protection from enemies. When the webs of its front feet are pulled back, claws are exposed.
It is hard to get a look at this little fellow, because it stays in its burrow during the day and hunts only at night. Even though no ears can be seen (just ear slits), its hearing is usually good, as well as its sense of smell and touch.
When preparing for a family, the mother increases the length of the burrow to about twenty feet with a hidden opening out on the land. She brings in leaves and grass to make an underground nest where she lays two or three eggs. She curls her body around the eggs for a week or ten days until the little, one-inch-long babies hatch. She has glands in her body that give off milk. This collects on her fur, and the babies soon find that by licking her fur they are well fed. The mother stays with them in the burrow for about four months. Then they are nearly full grown and ready to leave the den.
We may wonder why God made such a distinctly strange animal. We can be sure He had a definite purpose in doing so, and that He gives it the same care and attention that is given to all His creation. And we may say about ourselves that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” also, because the human body is a marvelous structure, equally amazing in its many parts.
Have you stopped to think that God made man with a special purpose in mind? He has said of those called by His name: “I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:77Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. (Isaiah 43:7). This assurance is given to anyone who has put their faith in the Saviour’s work at Calvary: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 1:99Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9). Can you apply this promise to yourself?
ML-01/17/1982