"Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power... there is nothing too hard for Thee" (Jer. 32:17).
Stingrays are big fish, seemingly afraid of nothing. Mature ones measure four or five feet wide across their flat, fleshy "wings" with which they gracefully swim with little effort. Long tails, with their six-inch spears, make them look much like a boy's huge kite sailing under the water. The common species is darkish gray on top, but white underneath. Others have different coloring, including one called blue-spotted which is chocolate colored with round blue spots over its entire body.
Along North America's Atlantic Coast, on to the Caribbean Sea and other places in the world's oceans, stingrays often lie half buried in the sand in shallow water. This is a time when they can be very vicious, although they are not as vicious as the electric rays to which they are related.
If left alone, they do not attack anyone swimming among them, but if you should unintentionally step on one you would immediately regret it. The angry ray would strike your leg with its whip-like tail and its sharp, barbed spear would dig into your flesh. Oh, how painful this is, but it is even more painful as it pulls the spear back out and the barbs tear the flesh even more!
Incidentally, off the shore of Cayman Island in the Caribbean, sports divers, swimming among big schools of stingrays and feeding them by hand, have developed a friendly relationship with them. They will even pet and hug them, which the stingrays seem to enjoy. These divers have discovered that the scale less skin of these big creatures is as smooth as velvet, but the divers are careful not to irritate them in any way.
The mouth of a stingray does not extend in front as with most other fish, nor does it have visible jaws, but it has what looks like a large hole under its head. To secure its food, made up of fish, crabs, oysters, sea worms, small squid and other water creatures, it cruises slowly over the ocean bottom. Since its eyes are on top of its head, it cannot see what is down there, but when its mouth comes in contact with anything edible, it sucks it up and if unsuitable it spits it out. But good food is passed along to a grinding plate with strong teeth where shells and other unsuitable parts are removed and the edible food is crushed and moved on to the throat and stomach.
We may not understand why stingrays were part of God's creation, but we know they have a place in His purposes. And we know He looks with love on every person in the world and invites us to let that love into our hearts by accepting His Son, the Lord Jesus, as our personal Savior. Is your heart open to Him?