Hydraulic Plants and Animals

Job 15:8
“Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?”

Hydraulics are part of our everyday lives. Fluids – such as the brake fluid used in your car – cannot be compressed, so when you step on the brake pedal that fluid can be forced from a cylinder into the braking mechanisms attached to your wheels. All hydraulic machines work in a similar way because the fluid used will flow easily to areas where there is less pressure.

Our Creator made great use of hydraulic principles in many of His creations. We have rigid bones and use fluid to expand and contract our muscles to bend and then stretch our legs. But the spider, for example, does not have a rigid skeleton, so it uses muscles to bend its legs, then pumps fluid into its leg to straighten it out.

The North American Dwarf mistletoe builds up hydraulic pressure equal to that found in a truck tire in order to catapult its seeds out to a distance of almost 50 feet at a speed close to 60 miles per hour. The squirting cucumber found in the Mediterranean area uses the same principle to propel its seeds up to forty feet.

Unless you think that the brake system in your car came together by chance and natural forces, it doesn’t make any sense to believe that spiders and other plants and animals came about without a Designer and Creator.

Prayer:
Dear Lord, I am constantly amazed at the technical excellence of Your creation. I ask that more scientists would also be amazed and draw the natural conclusion that You are God. From this realization, help them to be open to hearing what You have done for them and all of us through Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.

Notes:
Photo: American dwarf mistletoe. Courtesy of J Schmidt.