Read: Genesis 1:20-23
Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures. (v. 20 NRSV)
The water was crystal clear and the color of turquoise. We couldn’t wait to see what creatures swam below the surface. And we were not disappointed. The second largest coral reef in the world—just offshore of Belize in Central America—was full of more marine life than anything I had ever seen before. The shapes and colors and sizes of the fish were mind-boggling. Their numbers were uncountable.
This text in the biblical book of beginnings hints at the abundance of life in the world’s oceans and seas and rivers and streams. God creates swarms of living creatures of more kinds than we humans can imagine. Indeed, we are still discovering new forms of marine life deep in our home planet’s oceans. Included in this mix, Genesis notes, are sea monsters—creatures feared by humans and not at all useful to us, yet known by God their Maker.
The text affirms that God blesses the water creatures down below and the winged birds up on high. Not only humans but fish and birds are blessed by God and called to be fruitful and multiply. God’s blanket of blessing extends to all he carefully creates. So we, as God’s earthkeepers, ought to mimic our Maker and care for the waters of life and all the creatures that call it home.
As you pray, thank God, Creator of all creatures great and small, for blessing us and all the swarms of creatures in the waters of life.
Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.
When not teaching or writing, he spends as much time as possible canoeing or backpacking in his favorite places in North America or simply hiking among the magnificent trees in southwest Michigan parks.
