God was able to create life because He IS life. When I think of Genesis 1:20-23, I think of how vivacious He is, how creative, how inventive He is! Of course, the first four days of creation, He has already demonstrated His imagination, but man is only now beginning to see that portion of His handiwork. Whereas now we come to the part of creation where His diversity has been fully displayed for us. This is where He creates life on the earth as we know it. He truly spoke His wonderfully original poetry and brought a dance to this earth that had once been void of life.
I think it's amazing how in His great wisdom, He created the plants and the sun before the animals. Just about every living thing in this world requires oxygen to breathe, except for the plants. God created them to take carbon dioxide and, along with the sun and water, to convert it to oxygen. He created all life to require certain temperatures in order to survive, and He created the sun to provide that balance. So now the stage was set; the earth was ready. Once again, God spoke life into existence.
"Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." He didn't just want some creatures to be in the water, he wanted the waters to teem, to abound, to be full of life! That is the meaning behind the word used here. It reminds me of later, when Jesus said that He came that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly. This isn't just about quantity, it's about quality and diversity, just like the different fish and crustaceans and mammals that abide in the lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans. He created the birds to fly majestically over the land, letting their wings take them to heights soaring above the earth. When I think of this scripture, I think of an eagle taking flight, across miles, riding the winds, appearing regal in their expanse.
"So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds." In this day, He created octopus and narwhals, dolphins and whales, manatees and sharks, shrimp, crab, lobsters, sea anemones and sea cucumbers, and all sorts of fish too numerous to be named. Just thinking about all the sea life of which I am aware brings me to consider how great is our God. He even created the sea star. I wonder if in that moment He was thinking of the star that would lead the wise men to Bethlehem. He created the sand dollar which contains in itself the message of salvation. His love is spread through all creation!
He created "every winged bird according to its kind." He created doves and cockatoos, eagles and vultures, parakeets and finches, and so much more. He created them to rise above the earth, to use their wings as tools to go farther and higher than they would ever be able to travel on their legs alone. He gave many of them beautiful songs to manifest His presence to us, songs of praise and joy, and sometimes of sorrow as if to remind us that He feels our pain as well as our joy.
Here comes that old familiar phrase again..."And God saw that it was good." Gotta love His gift for understatement. He gives us thousands of species filled with color and music, and He saw that it was good. But He didn't stop there. He blessed them. He commanded them to "be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth. Once again, He creates life teeming in the oceans and in the skies, but He commands them to continue that life, to increase, to fill the earth, so that it would grow abundant with that life.
There was the evening, which began with the moon and the countless stars in the sky, and He filled the waters with life, and He placed life in the heavens, just as He wants to do with us, so that we can walk fully in the light of His love. On the fifth day of creation, He gave us a physical reminder to let us know that He wants every part of our hearts, not just that on which we walk, but those places where even most of us dare not dread. We think it is easy to give that part of ourselves over to God which we see, but it takes a deeper faith to give over the deepest oceans of our life, to hand Him our skies, where we cannot soar without His touch.
Those oceans are not made for us to travel alone. We were not created with gills or with the ability to hold our breaths for four hours. We need His breath of life to sustain us in the underground caverns that are too dark for us to see. Those skies are impossible for us to traverse without His guidance on how to unfurl our wings and fly above all that surrounds us. He has called us to rise upon eagles' wings and to renew our strength in Him. Only when we are willing to let Him plunge into our deepest depths and fill every expanse of our lives will we be truly able to have abundant, joyful life.
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