The Young Lizard's Canteen

Yarrow’s spiny lizard

​Isaiah 43:20
“The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.“

When you go into the desert, it’s always a good idea to take a canteen of water with you. Our Creator applied the same principle of wisdom when he designed the Yarrow’s spiny lizard.

Like many desert dwellers, Yarrow’s spiny lizards are well designed to conserve water in the dry desert climate. For example, they don’t even have a urinary bladder. Their bodies are designed to remove water from their waste before it’s released. The water is recycled within the body, since water is a precious resource in the desert.

Unlike many reptiles, Yarrow’s spiny lizard bears live young. The two-inch-long newborn lizards can dry out quickly in the desert. To increase their ability to survive, the Creator gave the newborns a built-in canteen of water. At birth, a full canteen makes up 10% of the lizard’s weight. After the first month of life, the canteen shrivels and is no longer used. This, too, is a wise design, since the growing lizard has learned the ways of the desert and now has a greater need for speed than it has for a bulky water reservoir.

None of us can fully appreciate God’s limitless imagination and creativity that we see in the living world around us. However, we can appreciate the fact that He is willing and able to provide practical and workable solutions to every problem that we face. His solutions, beginning with our greatest need—the forgiveness of sins—are found in the Bible. The trust to apply His solutions to our lives is found in faith, worked by His Holy Spirit.

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