The beauty and health of the oceans and seas impact us far more than we may think. This magnificent view above from Bora Bora, French Polynesia is a testament to the incredible creativity of God. (pexels.com) Let’s go back to the very beginning when they were first created and explore the origins from the Bible’s perspective.
So God made a canopy that separated the water beneath the canopy from the water above it. And that is what happened: God called the canopy “sky.” The twilight and the dawn were the second day. Then God said, “Let the water beneath the sky come together into one area, and let dry ground appear!” And that is what happened: God called the dry ground “land,” and he called the water that had come together “oceans.” And God saw how good it was. Gen 1:7-10
There is no way to describe the awesomeness of the creation of heaven and earth. We see it in its finished state. We weren’t there when God designed it. We weren’t there when He spoke it into existence. But each and every day we experience it and behold its beauty.
We celebrate this earth in many ways and on many occasions. Some of those occasions are rather obscure, but when we become aware of them it makes us stop and ponder the essence of things little known to us.
On June 8th every year we celebrate World Ocean Day. We know so little about our oceans and yet they make up over 70% of our planet. While nearly every nook and cranny of our earth has been explored and studied, only 5% of our oceans have ever been explored. Few people have dedicated their lives to studying and understanding our vast oceans but their work is so very important. They are discovering ways to unravel the mysteries of the deep, all the while seeking to preserve and protect what they find.
pexels.com
It was on the second day of creation that the oceans were established. It was the design of the Creator to first gather the oceans into a single place and then for the dry ground to appear. That dry ground formed our continents and every continent in the world is surrounded by at least one of the world’s five oceans. When we think of countries being linked together by geography, most of us think of land bridges connecting us. But in reality, all the nations of the earth are linked by the oceans, not the land. In fact, South Africa and Israel are two nations linked together by one ocean, the Atlantic. How incredible it is to realize that God connected us with one another from the beginning!
It is an incredible experience to stand on the shoreline and look out to the awesome expanse of the ocean, only to imagine its depth and breadth. It humbles our hearts and causes us to be thankful for our existence. The calm waters soothe our souls. We drink in its splendor and then at a moment’s notice the storm comes. The fierceness of the waves and howling of the winds cause us sheer terror and can easily take our lives. And then the waves calm again and we are thankful to have made it through the storm. The ocean can soothe one’s soul and be frightening and awesome all at once. The experience of the ocean is much like life.
By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. Psalm 65:5-7
God is our salvation. He is our hope and our strength. Just as He created the seas with their calmness and their fierceness, He created us to experience the same. We look at the great oceans that He has made with awe, reverence and respectful fear. That is the way we are supposed to look at God. It is no wonder that the Psalmist speaks of calming the roaring of the seas and their waves in the same sentence as the tumult of the peoples.
All of creation can learn from one another. When we don’t understand the storms in our lives, God does. When our emotions are as fierce as the depths of the sea and we feel that we are going to drown, God knows. When the fierce winds blow and we face worries, fears or foes God is with us. He can calm the storms in our lives.
He loves righteousness and justice; the world is filled with the gracious love of the Lord. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made; all the heavenly bodies by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the oceans into a single place; he put the deep water into storehouses. Let all the world fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Psalm 33:5-8
This song from Psalm 95 is dedicated to all the peoples of the earth linked by all the oceans that surround them, “Come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker, for He is our God.”
