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Truth Seekers Newsletter
January 6, 2008: All God's Creatures
[Truth Seekers Home]
All God's Creation is important to Him and serves a Purpose in His Kingdom. We don't go very far into the Creation Story before we find God's Creatures in abundance. In Genesis 1:20-22, we find God creating fish, birds, and great sea animals. Verse 22 also tells us that God looked at them with pleasure and blessed them all!
Some Assembly Required!
If you were asked to design a bird and you had never seen a bird, how would you start? What things would you take into consideration in your design? Would you be interested in beauty or function or other things that would make your creation unique? What if we put in an extra direction that no subtype of a given type could be alike? Would you find it hard to create something that had beauty, function, uniqueness and were alike, but different? God did it!
There are presently over 10,000 known species of birds in the world and all are different, each uniquely designed for God's own purpose for them. He designed each for His Purpose to fit exactly within the place He designed for them in His World.
What Can We Learn About Ourselves as God's Creation?
God has designed each of us to be uniquely kin to our neighbors in the world and yet uniquely different. God has designed each of us to fit in a time and place prepared carefully by Him. We have beauty, functionality and uniqueness. Best of all, when God finished creating us, He was pleased and blessed us. He didn't look at us, sigh deeply and throw us into the "dud pile." He looked at what He had made and said, "This is good!" In fact, I like to imagine God jumping up and down and using His Best God Superlatives to describe us. "This is wonderful ... exceptional ... great .. fantastic!"
Is God Pleased With Us?
How do we get the idea that God is not pleased with us? It is very easy to look at other people and compare ourselves to them. However, God did not create us in the image of other people. He created us in His Image. Some of us may be the representation of His Hand and others the representation of His Foot. We should seek to know what God's Grand Design is for us individually. We should compare ourselves to God's Design for us, not God's Design for someone else.
Would we expect a bird to act like a tiger or vice versa? If either of them tried to perform like the other, they would meet with overwhelming failure. We don't need to worry about being the best that God has created someone else to be. God only expects us to be the best that He has created us to be!
The Right Habitat
The Bible specifies that God created wild life. He also created animals that we came to call domesticated. Animals that were created to be roaming in the wild will never be happy sitting in our living rooms! Not only were birds and animals designed for function, but they were also designed to function best in particular places. Acts 17:26 tells us that God determined the times set for us and "the exact places where [we] should live." God knows which habitat is just right for us.
Some people are miserably working in an office when their true nature is begging to be a forest ranger in the great outdoors. Some of us are struggling in the ice and snow when we have a tropical nature that is begging for warmth! Don't just settle in to any old place to live or work. Ask God where He intended for you to live and work! What's your habitat?
Special Companions
Do you have a pet or perhaps would like one? Many people get a pet for companionship. Animals and birds were created before woman to be a companion for Adam. Many people recognize the scripture where God said it was not good for man to be alone. In fact, Genesis 2:18 is often quoted at weddings, leading us to believe that statement preceded the creation of Eve.
However, after God acknowledged it was not good for man to be alone, He went right into creating companions for him. He created every kind of animal and bird. We already know that God was pleased with what He created, but He wanted Adam to be pleased too and to be involved with creation.
A Very Special Assignment!
God brought the birds and animals to Adam and let him name them. Names were significant and all God's Creations were significant! Can you imagine what a fun day that was? God paraded His Creations past Adam and said, "What about this one? What do you think we should call this one?" Would you have called a hippopotamus a hippopotamus? Would you have called a giraffe a giraffe?
It Was So!
Genesis 2:20 tells us that whatever Adam decided to call them was final. God did not look at that hippopotamus and say, "Nah ... I think it should be called a lumgizard." Adam said it was a hippopotamus and it was a done deal. When God trusts you to do a job, He will let you have the pleasure of actually doing it. God wants you to be His Partner in Creation!
Who Needs a Woman?!?
With all these wonderful birds and animals in the world, why was there even a need for God to create woman? We already noted that the animals were companions and that they shared a kinship with man. But animals, as wonderful as they are, cannot take the place of another human. Each was created for his/her own purpose.
Genesis 2:20 tells us there was no proper helper for man. Man had a companion, but no one to help him in the way he needed to be helped. Didn't God know that from the beginning? Yes, God knew from the beginning what He had in mind, but I believe He wanted Adam to experience the longing for another human. Adam needed to feel his incompleteness, so he would fully appreciate the joy of being complete.
Ironically, through the method in which God created Eve, He taught us one of His Greatest Lessons. Adam had to give up a part of himself to receive the very thing for which he was longing. As he allowed God to take one of his ribs, he was given the gift of a true companion and helper. And that principle continued in the act of birth as man and woman would give part of their very physical selves to receive the new life of a human baby.
What Is Our Relationship to the Fish, Birds and Animals?
After God created man and woman, He told them, "You are the masters of the fish and birds and all the animals." What do we learn from our pets? We learn responsibility, as we provide for their needs. We learn how to give and receive love and affection. We learn compassion and patience.
Taking care of the fish, birds and animals is our first grade lesson in how to take care of others. What will be our job at the end of time? 2nd Timothy 2:12 tells us that one day we will sit with Jesus and rule with Him! Our present day life, including our relationship with God's Creatures, allows us to practice how to be responsible for others.
God's Greatest Lessons Included His Creations as Examples!
One of Jesus' favorite teaching strategies was to talk about something new, comparing it to something the people already knew. The people knew the animals and birds and fish around them. God frequently taught His Lessons through reference to His Creations. See how many you can think of, from the Bible! (Sheep, Lamb, Pig, Dog, Horse, Donkey, Dove, Eagle, Fish, Birds and many, many more!)
The Greatest Sacrifice!
Animals were used for sacrifice in the Bible. What was the first example of animals being used for sacrifice? The sin of Adam and Eve left them feeling very exposed. They had no way of covering themselves, but God provided. He covered them with the skin of animals, a particularly poignant example of Jesus' Own Sacrifice to come.
Jesus would later be referred to as the Sacrificial Lamb, the One Who was offered up for the sins of the world. In Jesus' death, God again provided the covering for us. With our own sin leaving us uncovered and vulnerable, Jesus said, "Let me cover you. I'll give you more than just My Skin. I'll give you all that I am, that you may have Life!"
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