Namib Beetle

Prayer makes a difference

The Ethiopian Airline In-flight magazine Selamta (Jan/Feb 2013, Volume 30 /number 1, P. 16) carries an article entitled 'inspirational bug'. The Namib Desert Beetle is one tough bug. Dwelling in one of the world's driest climates (only half an inch of rain each year), the Namib survives by harvesting moisture from morning fog and then storing the water on its back. Now, a U.S. started up called NBD Nano is using the beetle's survival methods as inspiration. The start-up is finishing its first fully functioning prototype and hopes to create a cost-effective way to provide water to dry regions of the world.

The Namib lives in a desert land where no man can survive. It developed a survival technique. In the Book of Genesis it is seen that due to man sinning, the Lord God had to curse the land (Genesis 3:17).

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life."

Things grew worse when at a later time Cain murdered his brother Abel, for the Lord said in Genesis 4:12
"When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

The story of Namib raises a question: Who gave Namib the survival or thriving technique? Or wait. It survives or thrives due to the elements such as morning fog in a desert land.

Once God cursed the land but now it seems he no longer does, for sending morning fog or morning dew is reminiscent of God's grace falling on men and animals vs. man's response to it, giving us a hint of why some thrive even in a poor land while others improverished in a seemingly rich land.

How does God bestow upon man (and anilmals man can learn from) his grace? It has been said, "There are two means of grace" that is the word of God and prayer of saints. One of the first occasions of man approaching God with many thanks and supplications for his mercy is seen in what Noah first did after himself coming out of the ark. He built an altar to the Lord. Genesis 8:21 describes the Lord's response to Noah's prayer offerings:

"The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done."

We understand God is the source of all that are good. James 1:17 His intention is to bestow upon his children as much as they can handle. But when his children ignore him and turns away from him it is impossible even for him to bless them. For this reason in Isaiah 43:18-24 he bids his children to come to him.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.“Yet you have not called on me, Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel."

Does the Namib appreciate what Noah did? Does the Namib know that it is the beneficiary of Noah offering prayers to the Lord? I do not know.

We do know that Noah prefigures what our Lord Jesus did on a tree. He offered himself as the atoning sacrifice, and thereby open the way for his children to come back to Him and live under His blessings. Jesus is our High Priest praying on behalf of his children.

Before his departure he exhorted his disciples to "always" pray and not give up. Luke 18:1 So we pray from our heart, "Our Heavenly Father, Hallowed be your name..."

Prayer should not be mechanical. It must not be superficial either. It must come with love for the Lord, not any love but the kind of love He has for us. In the Bible it is seen how much God feels sorry for the flimsiness of the love his children have for the Lord. Jacob is the name of the Israelites. Jacob being a man steeped in the things of the world, for the most part he had little love for the Lord. So the Lord said, your love for me is like a morning mist that disappears. Hosea 6:4; 13:3.

Imagine the morning fog that appears briefly and disappears. Although the moisture is so little the Namib appreciates, gathers every little hint of it, and stores it to survive and thrive.

This reminds me of my coming to the Lord in prayer vs. the Lord coming to me with his grace, for on so many occasions, and for the most part of my life, my coming to him was very much like a morning mist that appears and disappears in the desert. It was not like Noah building an altar offering sacrifices with the pleasing aroma raising to God's throne room.

So Noah prayed and our Lord Jesus prayed and is praying, so His grace is still falling on us, even on a man as meager as the Namib.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Ankunftbogen,Frankfurt,Germany