Most of us don’t give much thought to the living creatures God has formed to fill important but hidden places in the world around us. The very soil we use for gardens and farming and the grassy lawns we walk on are good examples.
Just a teaspoonful of soil may contain countless tiny forms of plant and animal life that can only be seen with a microscope. The most important of these are bacteria, which help keep the soil clean and replace nutrients when they decompose dead insects and vegetation. Of course, we all know there are a variety of worms and millipedes, as well as moles and other creatures beneath the surface, but we can’t grasp how many there actually are. All of this life is a part of the Creator’s great plan and is important in the process of enriching the soil in which much of our food is grown.
Rocks on a hillside are often covered with moss or other growth, and many living things hide beneath these soft covers, including tiny mites, beetles, ants, centipedes, even mice, toads, moths, snails and innumerable other things. Rainwater trapped in a crevice of a rock is often the home of larvae wriggling their way into becoming mosquitoes. A rotting log is also sure to contain untold numbers of hidden life, including microbes, more bacteria, several kinds of ants, termites, slugs, lizards and others.
Enjoying a saltwater beach, few people are even aware that living creatures are hidden in the sand. Tiny crabs, shellfish, various worms, fleas and numerous other insects are there, and a great amount of unseen life is out in the ocean waters beyond them.
Underwater creatures also hide under rocks or around underwater vegetation in streams, ponds and swamps or in the shelter of an overhanging tree. You would be amazed at all the nymphs, larvae, crawlers, worms and even spiders down there, along with others which become an important source of food for tadpoles and fish.
But there is One from whom nothing can hide — the Creator Himself who made it all. The Bible reminds us, “There is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested [made known]” (Mark 4:2222For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. (Mark 4:22)).
If any reader is trying to hide from God, it is impossible, “for His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He [sees] all his goings” (Job 34:2121For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. (Job 34:21)). Just stop and consider that He knows all about you, and realize how important it is to say, as the psalmist did, “Show Thy marvelous loving-kindness, O Thou that [saves] by Thy right hand them which put their trust in Thee. . . . Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings” (Psalm 17:78). Have you put your trust in this loving Saviour?
Did You Know?
Just a teaspoonful of soil may contain countless tiny forms of plant and animal life that can only be seen with a microscope.
ML-12/16/2007