Creature Teachers

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. But this season, we’re driving a tractor!

You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

Today, our destination is Dannah Gresh’s farm. Think horses, llamas, mini-silkie fainting goats, peacocks, and some of the world’s best fireflies—each with a faith-filled lesson to teach us.

Did you know that each animal on the earth has purpose? To spread pollen, to dig, to fill a spot on the food chain, or to balance the environment. But there is one thing all of them were created to do: teach us about God, our Creator. 

This season of True Girl is all about helping you learn about God’s character and His power. A lot of people today have opinions about God, and not all of them are true. But you can know Him by learning from others who know Him, praying, and reading your Bible, and learning from others who know Him. The Bible tells us you can learn about Him from animals. How cool is that!? 

Let’s get this tractor moving for the first episode of season five, titled, “Creature Teachers.” Here’s Dannah and her cohost, Staci Rudolph!

Dannah Gresh: Hey, Staci! I’ve got a question for you. 

Staci Rudolph: What’s up?

Dannah: What do mini-silkie fainting goats, hamsters, siri-haired llamas, black-shouldered peacocks, a Tennesse Walker (that’s a horse in case you don’t know), a Sicilian mini-donkey, a half-Arabian paint (also a horse), Polish chickens, a turkey, walking ducks, a bantam rooster, and a labradoodle named Moose have in common?

Staci: I have no idea, tell me!

Dannah: Okay, they’re all animals I’ve had as pets, right here on my farm. And Staci, that does not include the flying squirrel, baby racoons, the black raven, the baby deer, and countless birds I’ve nursed back to health before returning them to the wild.

Staci: Dannah, you are 100% an animal lover!

Dannah: Totally! 100% is correct. Are you?

Staci: Definitely. Now my animals . . . I love turtles. And puppies, of course, have a special place in my heart. But what about you girls? 

Well, maybe you’re an animal person. Maybe you’re not. Either way, we’re here to help with this season of the True Girl podcast. We’re gonna meet some of the animals on Dannah’s farm to get a new understanding of God’s character and His power. Does that sound like a stretch?

Let’s jump right into the truth verse of the day. . . .

What? That’s not our usual Bible verse sound effect!

Dannah: Well, Staci, this is not your usual season of the True Girl podcast.

Staci: Dannah Gresh, did you change that sound effect?

Dannah: I did. Let’s hear it one more time. “Here’s our truth verse of the day.”

Staci: This is Romans 1:20, it says:

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

That verse reminds us that since the time God created the world, people have been able to understand two things about Him.

Number 1: His power

Dannah: Oh, God has a lot of that!

Staci: You know it! 

Number 2: His divine nature 

Dannah: Or His character.

Staci: Yep! Now, character is the pattern of thoughts, actions, and feelings someone shows over time. Right, Dannah?

Dannah: Yeah, right. 

Staci: The character of someone tells us how we can depend on them to think, act, and feel now and in the future. For example, God is powerful. That’s part of His divine nature.

Dannah: Wouldn’t ya like to know how God thinks about you? Or how you can depend on Him to act in your life? Well, God’s creation helps us observe things about Him.

Staci: Absolutely. If you wanna know about God’s character, just ask the animals. 

Dannah: Just ask the animals.

Staci: Today, I have a second Bible verse to share to prove you can do just that. Ready? 

Dannah: Wait! Let me get the sound effect for our Bible verse . . .

Staci: Come on, Dannah. Let me turn to the book of Job. 

This is a book about a man who was a super good guy, but he had some hard, hard times in his life. He suffered. Job questions how God operates the world and His divine nature or character. At one point in the book, God speaks on behalf of Himself. He talks about how He created the world. He mentions lots of animals and how they live—the grazing habits of mountain goats, how deer give birth, and the strength of a horse, and lots of other things too. God uses His creation and animals to help Job and his friends understand His power and nature. 

Dannah: Just like that verse in Romans says that through everything God made we can see His power and nature.

Staci: Let me read Job 12:7 to you. Now, this is Job speaking. He’s trying to understand his suffering, and he says:

Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.

Dannah: I love that verse! Job was saying that the animals and birds and every living thing is in God’s hand. As we try to understand God and His character and what is happening to us in our lives, sometimes we can “just ask the animals.” They’ll teach us. 

And you know what, Staci? I know that is true because all the animals on the farm have been teaching me about God since I moved here almost twelve years ago.

Staci: I guess you could call them “creature teachers.”

Dannah: Oh, that’s good, Staci! Creature teachers. Yes, they are.

Staci: All of them?

Dannah: Every single one of them. It’s their purpose. Well, in addition to other unique purposes they have like pollinating flowers and food, balancing the chain of life, and even companionship. But the one purpose all animals have is to teach us about God’s power and character.

Staci, I hope you wore your cowgirl boots, because we’re going for a barnyard walk right now. 

Staci: Now Dannah, you know I’m kinda a city girl. So, I’m wearing my kicks. That work?

Dannah: Your kicks? Those look like sneakers to me.

Staci: Umm . . . yeah. That’s what I said. Kicks!

Dannah: Umm, okay. Let’s go outside.

So, in the course of the next few weeks, I’m going introduce you to some of my farm friends. Each of them is a creature teacher. I will tell you some amazing stories about how they have taught me about God’s power and character. And to prove that every single animal has this ability and purpose . . . Staci, I’m going to let you pick the animal we talk about today. Any animal. And we’ll figure out how it’s a creature teacher.

Staci: Okay, then. I’m gonna pick one that I think is hard. 

Dannah: Okay. 

Staci: Not the horses, beautiful as they are!And not the goats. I feel like I’ve heard you talk about lots of lessons they’ve taught you before.And not the peacocks. But I do wanna hear about them on another episode.

Well, will ya lookie there! The rooster!

Dannah: That is Franklin.

Staci: I pick Franklin. How does thatrooster teach us about God?

Dannah: Alright, let’s go meet Franklin. Now, he was hatched on the farm in an incubator. He’s a beautiful Welsummer rooster.

He’s just so magnificent with his copper-colored neck feathers and that rich green belly and tail plumage. 

Staci: Plumage? Now, that’s a fancy word.

Dannah: He’s a fancy bird! 

Now, we timed him to hatch when our best friends were coming to visit with their children. They are from Franklin, Tennessee, so . . .

Staci: . . . ya named him Franklin.

Dannah: Yup! 

Staci: Shout out to our True Girls in Tennessee! But, Dannah, how does this guy teach us about God?

Dannah: Oh, that one’s so easy. He knows when to crow.

Back before alarm clocks or smart phones jolted us awake, roosters did the job. In 2013, a new study revealed that roosters don’t actually need the sunlight to tell them when it’s time to crow.

See researchers put them in a dark room for weeks. Personally, I’d never do that to Franklin. But . . . anyway . . . the roosters still knew when to crow. 

Staci: Wait, you’re telling me the roosters crowed at the right time even when they were in the dark?

Dannah: Yep! And they never missed a sunrise!

Now, sometimes a rooster, any rooster, will crow randomly in the middle of the day, but they know their job—to wake the world. And there’s an internal clock built into them to know when to do it!

Staci: Interesting. But Dannah, how’s that teach us about God?

Dannah: Also easy. The research team that studied the roosters’ crow, well they were amazed that they knew when to crow even without the sun. But there’s one thing the researchers couldn’t figure out. At the end of the day, these researchers were wondering, why do roosters have a biological clock that controls crowing in the first place? And how does it work?

Now, Staci, you know how it was the book of Job that told us animals are creature teachers?

Staci: Yeah. 

Dannah: In the book of Job you can also find a whole list of questions only God can answer. And one of them is this: “who gave the rooster understanding of when to crow?” 

Staci: And of course, we know that’s God. I get it! Franklin teaches you about God’s power. Just like the Bible says!

Dannah: Yes.

Now, no one really fully understands why or how roosters know when sunrise is, but God does! Because He’s the one who made them. And this is just one thing that shows His great power in Creation.

Staci: Kind of reminds me of Psalm 147:5: “How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!”

It’s mind-bending, but God has always existed and is all powerful. We are reminded of that when we wonder things like: how’s that rooster know when to do that!?

Well, I have a whole lot to think about it until next time.

And so do you, true girl. 

We have an assignment for you this week. Look for creature teachers. I hope you’ll come to understand God’s power or character through an animal you study about, or one who is your pet, or one you see on a trip. Let them be your creature teachers.

Dannah: And when you sense maybe you’re learning something about God, talk to your mom to see if the two of you can come up with a Bible verse that completes the lesson that creature teacher is teaching. 

Staci: There’s that rooster again. Was that Franklin?

Dannah: Naw, just my sound effect button.

Claire: Well, true girl, look for lessons from creature teachers this week. I’m excited to keep my eyes open. Hope you are, too!

If you enjoyed this first faith lesson from the barnyard, you should probably know about a super cool tool we could send to you! Let me tell you about our True Girl subscription box. We deliver discipleship tools right to your front door! They include daily devos written just for tweens, memory verse cards, and lots of themed items to teach the truth of the month. The box we’re shipping in May 2022—until supplies run out—is The Barnyard Box. It features a biblical lesson in obedience. And guess what!? The “creature teacher” is a horse! That’s why the box is full of fun horse and farm-themed extras. You can learn more about the True Girl subscription, and all the other resources to bring moms and daughters closer to each other and closer to Jesus, at MyTrueGirl.com

Hope you’ll be back on the farm with us next time when we meet another creature teacher: Napoleon! 

He’s an Indian peacock, sometimes known as a common peacock or blue peacock. Did you know that hidden inside of every peacock’s tail is proof of our Creator? Find out what it is on the next episode of True Girl.

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness!

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