Did you know a gecko has one of the most fascinating and effective natural adhesive systems in the animal kingdom?
The feet of the gecko are covered with millions of tiny hair-like structures called “setae.” They are 20X smaller than a human hair and they branch out into hundreds of smaller structures called “spatulae” which are similar to electron microscopic spatulas.
I can only imagine the Creator God sitting down at an electron microscope as he designs and builds all this down to the tiniest detail — for a lizard!
Their “setae” create something called Van der Waals forces which are weak intermolecular attractions generated when molecules are very close together. It’s not suction nor glue nor moisture, but a simple attraction between molecules just strong enough to hold the gecko’s weight.
These are similar to the way water molecules form raindrops in the air or beads on the hood of your car.
When geckos put their feet down the “setae” make contact and stick. The gecko can then engage or disengage its grip by changing the angle of their “setae.”
To walk, they peel their toes off the surface like removing a bandaid. But unlike the bandaid. glue or even moisture, their “setae” leave no residue.
Scientists have now copied the gecko’s “setae” to create medical adhesives that hold fast but peel off without pain. The same process also is used for dry adhesives in robotics and for climbing gear and gloves. The “setae” are microscopic anchors for the gecko, and they were created by a God who thinks of every detail!
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
— Hebrews 6: 19-20
Now it should not surprise us when God creates an anchor for our souls, and the anchor for our souls is hope.
Hope is the ability to look into the future and see something better. It’s a mixture of three things:
• expectation is seeing something good even before it becomes visible;
• resilience is the capacity to endure hardship without giving in or giving up;
• vision is the mental picture of a future worth all the effort and waiting — a vision of healing or justice or the realization of a dream or reconciliation — or peace.
Later in Hebrews we’ll read that “… faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga.
