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| Sunrise at Medicine Rocks State Park |
This past month we were in Montana for a week. It was great to speak at a church out there and to get to spend some time exploring God's creation!
One of the highlights of the trip was
"Medicine Rocks State Park."
The sandstone formations there are unusual, not just because the surrounding area is rather flat or low rolling hills in this part of the state, but also for the thousands of holes in the formations themselves. These unique, hole-filled formations have amazed people since they were first discovered.
How were they formed? Is there meaning behind them? Why should we care about a bunch of hole-filled rocks?
How were they formed?
If you look at the sign at the entering of the park you will find an evolutionary theory of millions of years of wind wearing holes in what was once "a sea of sand dunes." However, if you look at the rocks and holes themselves, you will see evidence of a very different explanation.
The holes are varied in size and length as well as the direction they travel into the rock.
There are indentations that resemble tree trunks that have been uncovered by some of the erosion that has taken place.
Many of the holes have remains of petrified trees in them.
Although wind and rain have played a part in sculpting and uncovering the formations, it does not explain why we find so many holes and specifically why we find petrified wood remains within so many of them.
So what is the explanation?
A massive worldwide Flood deposited tons of sandy sediment with thousands of trees randomly buried within it. When the water drained off the ridge, it took away a lot of the sediment but left portions of it still standing. This sediment hardened into sandstone around the trees trapped within. The tall rock formations were exposed to oxygen, to the wind. The logs that had the least contact with the minerals and sediment rotted, leaving holes through the rock. Wind tunneled through the holes and eroded more away. Some of these holes bend, some branch where trunks and limbs could have been. Over the years since the Flood, most of the trees within the mounds have completely decayed leaving thousands of holes of varying dimensions and shapes, but you can still see the petrified wood and bark that remain in many of the holes. Erosion has helped to uncover and wear away at these formations, but the Flood made them.
Is there meaning behind them?
Looking at the "Medicine Rocks," it is easy to see how they were made...during the Flood. The meaning behind them is that God really did send a Flood to judge the world. He tells us about it in Genesis 6-7. The Bible is true. We find evidence of the Flood all over the world.
Why should we care about a bunch of hole-filled rocks?
* When we realize that God kept His word in the past, we can be sure we can trust His word about the future.
* Knowing that God judged sin in the past should make us mindful of His coming judgement.
God has preserved evidence on the earth to remind us of His great might and faithfulness. He has preserved His written Word as well. He uses both to prick us in our consciences that He also created.
* Let's take these truths to heart, repent from our sin, and let God change our lives and actions (Psalm 19).
