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Let the waters swarm with fish and other life...

Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on earth.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.
(Genesis 1: 20-23, NLT) Friends, there is a lot going on in these few verses that warrant a close look. First this is the moment when God created animals, specifically water-based animals and birds. Now I know many of you reading don’t believe in evolution, but I’d like you to keep an open mind for a bit. Evolutionary biologists hold that animal life began in the water and we now know that dinosaurs are in fact genetically related to birds. This should make us shout for joy to see science and Christianity come together to illuminate the miraculous process that is the unfurling of life. So tuck this little factoid in the back of your mind. Now let’s pull back to look at the religious implications of animal life emerging for us. Well, the first thing that should come to our minds is God created life for His pleasure. Life was “good” and He “blessed” it. That should convict us in how we treat other life forms on planet Earth and how we care for the planet in general. Every day, species that God created go extinct at our hands. I ask you friends how can we as Christians allow that to happen?

It’s important, in these verses, to note that this marks God’s first act of blessing. He’s not blessing us. We are not the first creatures to earn his blessing. He’s blessing animal life. He’s blessing animal life to multiply and fill the earth with all their wonders. This means that all the animals of planet earth carry in them God’s blessing and are perfect in their creation. So much so that we will see God save his animal life when the floods come. Animals are perfect in their creation. And we cannot say that about us—we’ll soon come to the complicated act of creation that brought man and woman into being and our fall from grace. Animals were blessed and saved by God; that should make us pause.

When I seek closeness with God I go outside into Nature. Planet Earth was created as a perfect planet to support all types of life that God saw as inherently good and blessed. We no longer have access to the Garden of Eden but we do have access to Earth. And God carefully made our planet, just as He carefully made the universe—not for our pleasure, but for God’s. We still have permission to be here—let’s care for Life and find our God in every tree and creature.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Earth you created and all the animals you have brought forth thru history that have given you great pleasure. Forgive our neglect and harsh treatment of the lives you created and guide us into Godly care of your creation. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

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