God’s Love for His Creation
Genesis 1:25 “And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”
We just returned last week from Africa. It was, by far, the most amazing trip that we have ever taken. I found myself awestruck on many occasions by the beauty and enormous size of that continent! Thousands of animals all, for the most part, living in a symbiotic relationship with God’s creation. The tons of food that those animals ate daily was mind boggling, and God provides for all of them!
I was reminded of Genesis 1:30 “And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food”.We saw it firsthand; all the animals were being cared for. It was obvious that some of the animals were there as food such as the antelope, gazelle, wildebeest and buffalo. But even when killed, the animals didn’t just lay waste, every part of the animal including the bones were consumed by others for food. We witnessed a buffalo taken down by lions. First the male lions ate, then the females, (who actually did all the work of the hunt and the kill), hyenas took their turn then the vultures and insects. Not a piece was left over. This process included humans that would utilize every portion of their kill. Everything was used for food, clothing or weapons. Yes, we were in Eden!!
Watching all the animals, I had a weird thought. Adam was tasked with naming all those creatures!! Genesis 2:19 tells us that God brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would name them. What an amazing task!! Although I think he was running out of names when he came up with the wart hog, or the aye-aye. I was happy that God named me first! I can live with “male” or “human”. Ha!
We also noticed, like us, the animals thrived in “community”. Their “own kind” worked together, played together, ate together and took care of each other! Many of the animals were mates for life. (No divorce for the animals of Africa). Some animals helped others find water. Some, that had outstanding eyesight, would look out for danger. As written in Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
We were obviously captivated by all that we witnessed on our trip. What an awesome God we serve!! The beauty and splendor of His creation is beyond comparison. If there is ever any doubt that God wasn’t the author of this beautiful creation, go to Africa, or just stop and look at a star-lit sky or the incredible Rocky Mountains. It’s all there for us to enjoy!!
In Him,
Kent Patton, Operations manager
