“But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.” (Job 12:7-8 KJV)
This is a really neat verse. Take a minute and reread it. Did it hit you that time? God is telling us that if we listen to the nature that he created for man, it will tell us what it needs. Do you spend time talking to your animals? Do you listen to the land as you till it? Since I can’t really get the words that I want to say to come out right, let me give you a great example. Have you heard of Temple Grandin?
Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American doctor of animal science, a professor at Colorado State University, a best-selling author, an autistic activist, and a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. (Wikipedia)
Because of her autism Temple often felt threatened by everything around her. As a result she invented a device that would “hug” her giving her a sense of security and peace. Those feelings of a threatening world not only led to the invention of her device which helped many other autistic people but helped her to listen and understand animals in a way that many of us are to busy to do. Through the course of her life she became interested in animals and became a staunch defender of animal welfare. While she was working on her studies in animal science at Arizona State University in the 70’s she worked at a cattle slaughter yard. She observed that the method that the yard used to handle the cattle, move them, treat them, etc created chaos among the animals. This high level of anxiety the cattle felt due to the threatening nature of their handling would often cause injuries to the cattle making them less useful, maiming them, or even out right killing them. Temple connected with the cattle. The threatening world they felt around them was something she understood. She could “listen” to what the cattle were telling her. Over time she got the feed lot to listen to her suggestions about how to redesign the lot and the process they used when dealing with the cattle. They were skeptical but finally consented and to their amazement the changes brought about a calming atmosphere for the cattle and the cattle were able to be herded, treated, and handled without any chaos, anxiety, injury, or death. Her autism (something that many people view as a curse or a disability) gave her a gift that the rest of us must develop. Temple went on to become a consultant to the livestock industry, among her many other accomplishments, and redesigned the way that many slaughter houses work today. She is an amazing women and I would encourage you to read up on her and her work. She is truly an example of exactly what this verse is saying. Listen to the animals. Listen to the earth. Listen to the nature that God designed. Listen and let it guide your hand in how you handle your animals and crops. God’s design will always produce better results than man’s. Have a great day and God bless!