“Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind’; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:24, 25)
My six-year-old son’s current fascinations include doodle-bugs (alias “rolly-pollies” or “pill bugs”) and dinosaurs. He looks under rocks for the one and pretends to be the other. I am at my best when I enter into this world with him (we have dinosaur fights frequently), and it reminds me of my own fascination with these things when I was his age. I too played with the doodle-bugs, and I too pretended dinosaurs.
Apparently God is fascinated with them as well: He made a whole world full of these and other things just as fascinating. Man might imagine other sorts of creatures, but who ever would have dreamed up a giraffe or a platypus? Penguins are hilarious. And why are dogs so much a man’s best friend? I mean they really can be—it’s uncanny. Have you ever seen something so beautiful as a horse in full gallop, so serene as a field full of sheep, so regal as a lion? I may have played with bugs, but as a child I watched a line of ants for hours (I should have learned more lessons from them: “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways, and be wise.” —Proverbs 6:6). If I take the time for it—and I should—I can sit and watch in a similar way the squirrels and the rabbits of my back yard, and I have been captivated numerous times by the garden spiders and their zipper webs (throw a hapless moth into the web for quite a show!).
From the hippopotami and crocodiles of Africa to the crawdads and water moccasins of Arkansas, God’s creation is incredible. Panda bears and polar bears and orangutans and chimpanzees will always get my attention at a zoo. Even cats, nuisance though they can be (like us all), have something irresistibly attractive about them as well. Did you realize our whole world would fall apart if it were not held together by the bugs? And it would also fall apart if there were not other creatures to eat them! God has masterfully arranged everything just so—creeping thing, cattle, beast of the field, domestic animals—everything in its place, for its purpose, the greatest of which is to bring glory and pleasure to God and delightful enjoyment to man.
God be thanked for armadillos and skunks, worms and wolves, ground hogs and deer. Thank God for elephants and zebras, rhinos and cheetahs, gazelles and hyenas. Praise God for grizzly bears and buffalo, for iguanas and alligators, for termites and tarantulas. Give thanks for double-humped camels and stubborn mules, for dumb oxen and wise serpents, for anteaters and the ants to be eaten. God be praised for the multitude of wondrous land animals, so much like men themselves, so much from whom to learn, so helpful, beautiful, enjoyable—and fascinating—to six-year-olds and old men alike.
“Great Creator of all the world, we give thanks for the animals and for the capability you have given us to wonder at them. Thank You for the animals we eat and for keeping us from being eaten by others! Thank You for the dinosaurs and dragons of old, and thank You for the doodle-bugs and giraffes we still have with us. Help us to learn from them, enjoy them, be fascinated by them, take care of them, use them, and govern over them as You intend for us to do. We thank You above all for our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah who is also the Lamb of God, and we pray You would make us like Him. Amen.”
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