What’s a Siphonophore?

Numbers 23:19
“God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

It can be forty feet long. It can have many mouths and just as many stomachs. It swims along in the darkness more than 1,500 feet beneath the sea, reaching out for food with its lethal tentacles.

This is not a creature invented for a new horror film. It’s a siphonophore. As one scientist described it, “A siphonophore is this big thing that goes around sucking up food.” In reality, a siphonophore is a collection of jellyfish that join into a huge colony. When they link up, some of the jellyfish act as mouths, others act as stomachs. Other jellyfish in the colony take care of the swimming while yet others cast out their tentacles to gather food. When joined, they act as a single, huge creature.

However, the siphonophore is not the terror of the deep to all creatures. When the siphonophore’s tentacles are extended for feeding, lantern fish and smelt gather. The smelt actually snuggle harmlessly among the tentacles. These fish are waiting for the scraps that result from the siphonophore’s feeding. The siphonophore at dinner is also a good place to hide from other creatures.

God can make anything He wants. There are no limits to His imagination and power. Many people have said to us, doesn’t an all-powerful, unlimited God mean that God could have created everything any way He wanted? Couldn’t God have used evolution? The answer is, “Yes.” But the God who created the universe itself is also the God who got it right the first time, every time. He said it was perfect. He did not do it by trial and error.

Prayer:
I thank You, Lord, that Your Word is trustworthy and that You cannot lie or mislead me. Grant me Your Holy Spirit to teach me when I study Your Word so that I may not be misled by my own thoughts. Amen.

Notes:
Discover, February, 1986.

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