Once there were millions of beavers in streams, lakes and ponds throughout the United States and Canada, but to meet demands of fashion for its lovely fur, trappers killed them mercilessly, nearly wiping them out. Fortunately, the fashion designers changed their designs to other things so that beavers were spared to gradually rebuild their colonies. Should you be visiting some of the mountain areas of the West or lakes in the North, you might get a glimpse of this fascinating creature.
Water is a prime necessity for the beaver, and God has provided it with adaptability to its wet surroundings. A full-grown animal will be about three-and-a-half feet long, including a flat tail about five-inches wide and a foot long. This tail is most important; a beaver uses it, along with its paws, to plaster its home and dams with mud. Its tail is also a rudder for this excellent, web-footed swimmer and serves as a support while it stands on shore or gnaws on trees and shrubs. When a beaver slaps that flat tail hard on the pond’s surface, the sound is a warning for its companions to seek cover from an enemy coming too close for comfort.
This animal is a remarkable engineer, building watertight dams, some a half-mile long, to form ponds. It also builds a house or lodge as much as eight-feet high and 30-feet in diameter. Several beaver families may live in these lodges and have rooms for storing food for winter and other rooms for raising their young. Here they are safe from their enemies, for their entrances and exits are all underwater, although the living quarters are always high and dry.
A beaver’s most prominent feature is its teeth, which are large, sharp and strong. It uses them to cut down trees and have them fall just where they want. These trees are then used in building dams, homes or for food. Incidentally, their teeth never stop growing. To keep them from getting hopelessly long, they must wear them down by gnawing.
The amazing skills of the beaver didn’t come about by a trial-and-error method - God provided them with every feature and ability when He created them, just as He did for every creature.
God puts a responsibility on all mankind to recognize His Son as the Creator of all things, and anyone who denies this can never draw near to Him. But more important yet, He has been made known to the world as the Saviour to those who trust in Him, or as the judge to those who refuse Him. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36). How solemn the warning, “Take heed . . . lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” Hebrews 3:1212Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12).
DECEMBER 18, 1994
ML-12/18/1994