Loving All of Creation
Everyone knows that repetition is a key tool for teaching or learning. The more we read or hear things the more likely we are to remember them. Repetition is often used by speakers and writers to give added emphasis to something they are trying to convey. If a sentence or word is repeated twice within a short period of time most people are likely to notice. If it is repeated three times then you are pretty much assured that everyone will notice. I thought about that this morning as I read Psalm 145:8-19 to the congregation I serve. Within these twelve verses the Psalmist declares three times that God has compassion or love on all that He has made.
The fact that this thought is repeated three separate times leads me to believe that the biblical writer felt this was a truth that desperately needed to be heard. For whatever reason, David believed people needed to understand that God’s love extends to not just humans but to everything in Creation, to all that He has made. This would mean that God loves the fish in the sea, the birds of the air and all the other animals in the world. It would mean that God cares for all living plants and even inanimate objects. There is not a thing God made that He does not have compassion on.
This message may be three thousand years old but it is still very much a message that people need reminding of. I can only speculate but my suspicion is that humans are far more anthropocentric today than they were in David’s time. Humans, by necessity, were more connected to nature then. Today that connection is not as strong so we tend to think it’s all about us. Certainly God does love us, the Bible makes that abundantly clear, but as seen in Psalm 145 God also loves and cares for the rest of His Creation as well. Verses 15-16 of this Psalm say “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” God’s compassion is seen here to be not just a warm fuzzy feeling but an action. He has provided food for all living creatures; it is His longing to satisfy the desires of every living thing.
If God loves and cares for all of Creation, shouldn’t we? The answer to me seems obvious. Yes, we should share God’s concern for the rest of Creation and our compassion for what God has made must be much more than a feeling. It should show itself by our actions toward the rest of the world. If there is no action then the true love is absent.
There are a variety of ways we can share God’s love and compassion for Creation. Most likely you already have a few ways in mind yourself. The important thing is that we not just talk a good talk but actively show compassion for the rest of Creation. God shows His love for that which He has made every day in countless ways. Reading Psalm 145 I get the feeling He could use some help from the rest of us doing the same thing. Will you give it a try? I hope you will and that you will encourage others to do so too.
–Chuck
(I took the screech owl in Middlesboro, KY; the river scene at Breaks Interstate Park, the bison at Land Between the Lakes in western Kentucky, and the dragonfly at Henderson Sloughs Wildlife Management Area near Henderson, KY.)