“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven [the sky], and that are in earth, visible and invisible.”
There are a great number of creatures that, unknown to most people, are very helpful to us. Worms, for instance, munch their way through the soil day and night, fertilizing it as well as opening it for water and nitrogen to reach plant roots. Bats too, in many places, fly unseen through dark nights, feeding on great numbers of mosquitoes and other insects.
But there are other forms of life not visible without a microscope - billions and billions of microorganisms. One of these is bacteria, without which we couldn’t survive! Some bacteria cause a chemical change called fermentation. So these helpers are essential in making alcohol, bread, cheese, buttermilk, yogurt and many more food items. Bacteria which live in the digestive tracts of man and animals help in the digestion of certain foods.
Bacteria are also very important and useful to man in other ways. Certain of these helpers cause decay of dead animal and vegetable matter and dissolve this matter into plant food in the soil and gases in the atmosphere. Even oil spilled on the ground or in a lake is dissolved by bacteria in time. Their activity is most important in garbage dumps where tons of waste materials are discarded every day. If it were not for the bacterial process of decay, the earth would become covered with dead material and all living things would gradually die out.
Even in the mining of copper, zinc, uranium, gold, etc., it wouldn’t be possible to make metal out of the ore without these tiny assistants.
No matter how clever scientists are they could never produce such microscopic forms of life that do such a vast number of helpful things and without which we could not exist.
But these invisible specks of life didn’t just happen to be in the world by chance. They were planned! Our beginning Bible verse explains that they are here because the Lord God, the Master Designer and Creator of everything, has placed them here as helpers for every kind of life. They serve us in many ways, helping men and women, boys and girls, in making their ways through life. He alone has made them, and they will continue in their unseen activities while the world lasts.
When we think of bacteria and other wonders of God’s creation, may we declare with the Psalmist: “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture.” Psalm 95:6,76O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. 7For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, (Psalm 95:6‑7).
He will be pleased with your worship and thanksgiving after you have accepted His Son, the Lord Jesus, as your Saviour. He loves you and has said, “[He or she] that cometh to Me I will in no wise [no way] cast out.” John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).
ML-02/07/1993