- Series:Animals, Plants, Transcript English
Habakkuk 3:17-18
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Completely unrelated creatures that depend entirely upon one another to live and have no way of living without one another pose a very serious challenge to those who claim that all living things evolved. The relationship is called reciprocal altruism.
One startling example is the relationship between the fig wasp and the fig tree. Male figs are not for eating; they produce the pollen to pollinate the sweet, juicy female fig. But the flower parts of both the male and female figs are inside the figs. There is no chance that the wind could spread pollen from the male to the female figs. And there is no other creature except the fig wasp that can transfer the pollen.
Herein lies an incredible story. The fig wasp hatches from eggs inside the male fig, and its purpose in its short 24-hour life is to lay its eggs inside another male fig. The female wasp emerges from the male fig covered in pollen and is programmed to search among the female figs, thus fertilizing them, before laying its eggs inside a male fig and, thus, starting the cycle again.
The fig wasp will only lay its eggs in the male fig while the female fig cannot be pollinated by any other method. Clearly, both the fig wasp and the fig tree were created for this special relationship.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, just as You created the fig wasp and the fig tree for this close relationship, You have created me for a relationship with You. There is no peace for me outside of a relationship with You. Help me to grow closer to You through the instruction of Your Word. Amen.
Notes:
Photo: Pollinating fig wasp. Courtesy of Anthony Bain. (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
