Psalm 104:24-26 (NIVUK)
24 How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number –
living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
Psalm 104 is a glorious celebration of the relationship between God and the world he created, reflecting on his creative power, the way he nourishes and sustains his creation, and his clear joy in it and it in him. These verses pick up the theme of biodiversity – the world is packed with life but it is not monotone, but is wonderfully varied and rich in its appearance and being. This in turn points back to God’s immense imagination, artistic nature, and love of diversity over uniformity. As a scientist, the more I learn about the abundance of life that surrounds us (and even lives in us), the more I turn to worship. Sadly, we live in an age where we are experiencing a crash in biodiversity due to climate change and the impact of human lifestyle choices. Whereas God looks beyond himself in creation, sadly we fail to do so, thinking often only of ourselves.
Father, we revel in the colour, sound and scale of the community of creation that you have brought into being. What an amazing world and what an amazing God! Forgive us when we show disregard for the world around it, consuming it rather than cherishing it. Help us to play our part in restoring what we have threatened.
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