Creatures

“And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”
Genesis 1:24-25

Two things had me thinking about God and animals. The first was the loss of our beloved dog – Moses. Moe as we called him was a great dog, the kind that tilted his head when you talked to him. His loss has left his brother Rufus more than a little sad. The second was an internet article that claimed that dogs don’t really like to be hugged and cuddled. That researcher never met our dogs and hasn’t seen how Rufus leans into my husband’s chest as he holds him close to comfort him. I’ll assume most of you have had a special pet sometime in your life or perhaps have an affinity for a certain kind of animal.

Those two things got me thinking about God and His non-human creatures, creatures that have been affected by the fall, just like the planet we live on. In Genesis, the creatures of the sea, air and land were created for before man as seen by this week’s passage – verse twenty-six is where it talks about making man. Later after the fall, Noah could have built a reasonably sized yacht for eight people to ride out the flood, but the animals and birds were important enough to save, so Noah built an ark. Animals provided raw material for making cloth and clothes, they worked to aid in farming, they provided food and income, some paid the cost for the people’s sin in the Old Testament. There were horses, cattle, sheep, oxen, camels, fish, birds and creepy crawlies. God uses all of His creation to teach us about himself. In Isaiah chapter 11 we read that one day animals and mankind will live in peace with one another – perhaps as it had been in the beginning. The Book of Revelation tells us of a new heaven and a new earth (see Chapter 21) – I can’t help but think there will be creatures on the new earth that have been long missing from this one.

What do we do while we wait for Christ’s return and the new earth. We allow nature to show us God’s creative passion. We treasure the creatures that have become members of our families. We appreciate the amazing, creative creatures that still roam our planet – creatures, like koalas quokkas, platypus, orcas, horses, lions, butterflies, sparrows and the whole menagerie He has made for us. We who are followers of Christ strive to be obedient to Jesus’ call to love God and love others. We heed the words of the prophet Micah to act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with God so that others will see Jesus in us.

Give all praise and honor to the Creator of all, stand in awe of His creation and His creatures.

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for your creative passion. Thank you for this amazing world you made for us to live and move and breathe in. Thank you for the incredible creatures you made to share this planet with us. May we treasure the animals that become part of our families, may treat well the animals that serve us in many ways and may we stand in awe of the amazing creatures that show us Your creative nature. In the name of Jesus, we pray – Amen.