What God Provides
The operating system on my computer shows a variety of pretty photographs when I wake it up each morning. Often there is a message with the picture. Yesterday the message was: “Nature provides us with some stunning color combos . . . ” Then the message mentioned the beautiful colors of the Dalmatian coast on the Balkan Peninsula.
That computer message reminded me of a segment of a show that Ray and I watched recently. The segment was about plants, such as the Venus flytrap, which get their nourishment from insects. On the show, someone asked what would happen if a plant wasn’t able to ingest certain foods. The reply was that “nature wouldn’t let that happen.”
I am thankful that we don’t have to depend on something like “nature” to provide us with stunning color combos or to feed Venus flytraps—or us. I am thankful that we have a Father in heaven Who personally takes care of us and of all the creatures He has made.
Yesterday I was working on a lesson on the Olympic Peninsula. What an amazing place God created there. It is so varied. It lies at the northwest tip of the continental United States. To the west is the Pacific Ocean, to the east is Puget Sound, and to the north is the Strait of Juan de Fuca which separates Washington state from Vancouver Island in Canada.
Every year God gathers waters from the Pacific Ocean and creates clouds that drop from 140 to 167 inches of rain on the western side of the Olympic Peninsula—that’s 12 to 14 feet! All that rain makes lush vegetation grow in dense forests with some of the biggest trees in North America. The eastern side is much drier, with some places receiving less than 22 inches.
The Olympic Peninsula is home to ocean beaches, rain forests, and the Olympic Mountains with their glaciers. Elevations change quickly. Less than 33 miles from the Pacific Ocean, Mount Olympus rises 7,980 feet above sea level. It is the tallest of the Olympic Mountains.
God loves beauty and variety. He created so many different things in that relatively small area and He takes care of them, providing all that they need. Let me show you some examples.
Varied Thrush
Sea Urchin
Trumpeter Swan
Olympic Mountains
Pacific Wren
Sea Star
Olympic Marmots
Wilson’s Warbler
Eel Glacier
Douglas Squirrel Eating a Douglas Fir Cone
Hole-in-the-Wall at Rialto Beach
Salamander
Hall of Mosses in Hoh Rain Forest
Psalm 104 clearly teaches us that God is the One in charge of the world and not some vague concept called nature. The psalm teaches that God:
- sends forth springs in the valleys and they flow between the mountains, and
- that those springs give drink to every animal, and
- that the birds of the sky dwell beside them and lift up their voices, and
- that He waters the mountains from His upper chambers, and
- that young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.
What a blessing that you can teach the truth about our creator God in your homeschool.
Lord, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions.
There is the sea, great and broad,
In which are swarms without number,
Animals both small and great.
The ships move along there,
And Leviathan, which You have formed to have fun in it.
They all wait for You
To give them their food in due season.
You give to them, they gather it up;
You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
Psalm 104:24-28
All pictures from National Park Service. Olympic Mountains by Bill Baccus NPS, Sea Star by Z. Van Duivenbode NPS, Wilson’s Warbler by J. Preston, Eel Glacier by Janis Burger.