Mechanical Excellence Under Stress

Psalm 148:7-8
“Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word…”

God created this world, but He did not then stand back and let it and all life on it spin off into space. No, He supervises this world, and He is concerned with every day-to-day detail.

Most living things move or change shape in response to high-speed wind or water movement. Take leaves, for example. As the wind increases, leaves automatically change shape with respect to the wind direction so that they offer less wind resistance. Holly leaves fold up and over each other along the branch, cutting the area exposed to the wind by over 50 percent. The same is true of an entire tree. As the old saying goes, the tree that bends with the wind is less likely to break.

Even people, when faced with a strong wind, walk and move differently than in a light breeze. Recent scientific studies on the amount of drag which living things have has shown that living things generally offer less than half as much drag as non-streamlined objects like buildings. In fact, living things have 30 percent less drag than modern streamlined automobiles.

God has not missed any details in His design of the creation. Modern technology has yet to come up with better designs, even in this simple area of engineering. Nothing has been left to chance!

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I am thankful that there is no such thing as chance. Help me to remember that You remain as involved in the creation as ever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:

Life’s devices: the physical world of animals and plants, Steven Vogel, (Princeton University Press, 1988), p.146. Photo: European holly. Courtesy of Jürgen Howaldt. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany license.