Awesome Wisdom

Bible Reading: Psalm 66:1-5

The Reed family was seated around their picnic table playing a board game when Emma looked up. “Oh no!” she wailed. “Not again!”

Jack groaned. Arthur, their collie, was almost totally covered with cockleburs. “I’m guessing you just had to go chase after a squirrel,” said Jack, “or was it a rabbit this time?”

Emma sighed. “Dad, why did God ever create cocklebur plants?”

“Well, I don’t know for sure,” said Dad, “but I once heard of another dog who was covered with cockleburs many years ago. While his owner was picking them off, he noticed the small hooks on the burs and how they clung to one another. That gave him an idea that eventually earned him quite a bit of money.” Dad grinned at Emma. “What holds the strap in place across the top of your sandals?”

Emma pulled one strap loose. “It’s that stuff that sticks together,” she said.

“It’s called Velcro,” Mom told her.

Dad nodded. “The man who invented it got the idea from those cockleburs,” he said. “He’s just one of many people who have watched and examined things in nature and then used what they learned to invent or improve things we use in everyday life. God’s wisdom has been discovered in hundreds of the things He created.”

Jack slapped at a mosquito. “I’m pretty sure no one has found any use for mosquitoes, though,” he said.

“Actually, scientists have been studying mosquitoes for quite some time,” said Mom. “They’re using what they’ve learned from them to make the hypodermic needle less painful.”

“Wow, that’s great! I hate getting shots,” said Jack. “And I thought the only good mosquito was a dead one!”

Dad smiled. “All of creation shows us that we have an awesome God,” he said. “Even things like cockleburs and mosquitoes. Those things reflect God’s wisdom too, even if we don’t recognize it at first.”

“Yes,” Mom said. “We can always trust God’s wisdom, even with things we don’t understand.” She looked at Arthur. “All right, let’s get all those burs out of Arthur’s coat before they get tangled in even worse!” – Vera M. Hutchcroft

How About You?

Do you sometimes wonder why God created things that seem bad to you? God never wastes anything—He has a purpose in all the things He made, even when you can’t see what it is. As the psalm writer put it, “In wisdom He made them all.” Know that His wisdom governs all of creation, even with things you don’t understand.

Today’s Key Verse:
Psalm 104:24 O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all.

Today’s Key Thought:

You have an awesome God