A Missing Link Without A Chain

Here we go again with another few scientists wishing to market the idea they have found ‘the first link to all humans ... truly a fossil that links world heritage,’ says Hurum. Dr Jorn Hurum’s claims are that ‘Ida’ is supposedly at 47 million-year-old fossil of a 9 month old female, with ‘a foot bone called the talus bone links Ida directly to humans.’ Not to mention her dental analysis (‘the lack of a "toothcomb" or a "grooming claw"’), and optometrist examination (‘forward-facing eyes’).

So, surely if she had eyes, teeth, and feet similar to modern humans, she must be the ‘missing link’. I mean, she ‘shows characteristics from the very primitive non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, such as lemurs), but is more related to the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes and humans).’ There is even a marvelous redition of a ‘Death scenario’ to accompany the story also. And look at the above portrait, ‘how Ida might have looked.’ I am thinking that looks pretty close to humans for sure.

Of course, Dr Jens Franzen declares, 'She belongs to the group from which higher primates and human beings developed but my impression is she is not on the direct line.' And ‘Dr Henry Gee, a senior editor at the journal Nature, said the use of the term 'missing link' was misleading.’ Along with ‘Dr Chris Beard, of America's Carnegie Museum of Natural History, said: 'I would be absolutely dumbfounded if it turns out to be a potential ancestor to humans.'’

I realize that some people like Dr. Hurum may like to claim they have found their ancestry in the creatures of history, but the fact remains all so-called ‘missing links’ are without a chain to connect them to humans; who were directly created by God Himself, without evolution from the other animals He also created.

Finding Ourselves and Rest in Christ, Not in Self

I recently visited my grandmother in the nursing home for her birthday. When I made my way into her room, she was reciting multiple letters of the alphabet. I could not comprehend what she was trying to spell, until she said, ‘Can you help me spell Whittington?’ Whittington is her maiden name, but she was unable to spell it. Through our conversation, she declared, ‘I don’t know what to do’, and ‘Can you help me help myself’. I quietly told her, all she needed to do was simply rest, and she replied, ‘I can’t. It’s not in my vocabulary.’

My grandmother has dementia, and possibly Alzheimer I suppose. They have arranged for her to have hospice, so they aid the nursing home in caring for her. She seems almost always in a state of worry and unrest, along with having problems remembering some persons and even the most common elementary things about everyday life. I cried. Why? Because I have felt and sometimes do feel the same way she expressed to me she does.

Have you ever stood in front of the mirror, and just wanted to shout out ‘Who am I? Do I even know who I am or what I am doing?’ Have you ever spent the night kneeling in prayer and weeping, finding no peace or understanding in the situations that surround you, what you should be doing, or how to do that which you know you should?

Consider we have something more comforting and a greater Physician, than that of hospice. I told my grandmother that we all feel lost sometimes with unrest, and are often at a loss for what we should be doing. I asked her if she knew Jesus, and she declared, ‘Yes, I talk to Him everyday.’ Her recollection of our Lord and Savior, through all her forgetfulness, moved my heart. Praise God through all her loss of memory, she can still recall the very One who will save us body, soul, and spirit.

Have we not professed to have put faith in Christ, and claim to trust in the very Word of God? Why then do we allow the flesh, the world, and the devil to toss us to and fro into all kinds of worries and dismay? How can we let the testimony of the Scriptures, and the moment of our very salvation fade somewhere into dark forgotten parts of our mind, while we try to survive in this corrupt world by the means of the flesh? We cannot hold onto faith and Christ in one hand, while refusing to let go of the worries and cares of this world in the other.

Scripture declares ‘the Son of man is come to save that which was lost,’ so by grace through faith we repent and are no longer lost. Christ bids us unto Himself, by His words, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Do we not find the most rest, and see the clearest direction when we converse with God through prayer and mediate on His given Word?

May we all draw from the wisdom of God, as we prepare, work, and live our daily lives as diligent servants subject to Him. May we find who we are in Him, while trusting in His help, finding peace and rest in knowing He loves and cares for us more than we can ourselves.