God’s Word for You

Genesis 1:21-23 Whales and things

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, August 6, 2026

21 So God created the huge sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the waters abound, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them. He said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Moses pulls in his verbal net, so to speak, and shows us that God made the huge sea creatures on the one hand and also the tiny things, “every living creature that moves with which the waters abound.” Most people never learn the names of those smaller things, but who doesn’t at least know what a whale is, or a dolphin, or a shark? I commend Luther who said, “I believe the reason for this (the mention of the ‘sea monsters’) is that we should know that such large bodies are the work of God, lest we be frightened by their size and believe that they are apparitions. Then it is easy to conclude that since such large bodies were created by God, the smaller fish such as herring, trout, carp, and others were also created by God” (LW 1:51).

Once again, Moses tells us that all of the sea creatures were created by God “according to their kinds.” Some of those kinds endure today: whale, ray, shark, trout, bluegill, bullhead, porpoise, eel, and so on. Some have died out and gone extinct, like the Chinese paddlefish and the Volga shad, or the terrifying saber-toothed herring. And there are some, like the Latimer (or coelacanth) that were thought to have been extinct but have been re-discovered. Extinction also happens among birds, of course. The passenger pigeon was once one of the most common birds in North America, nesting in the hardwood forests around the Great Lakes. Physically similar to the mourning dove, they were hunted for food by settlers. Their numbers dropped from around five million before the Civil War to nearly extinct by 1900. A few specimens were kept in captivity until the last one died in 1914. But then the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, long feared to be extinct, is reported to have turned up again in the bayous of the southern United States.

We reflect on these things because God’s blessing and command to his creatures was to be fruitful and multiply. Sometimes an animal species dies off on account of changes in climate and available food, destruction of breeding grounds, or other issues. But when man is directly involved and kills off an entire kind of animal, then man sins. The child of God cares about animals along with the rest of God’s creation (Proverbs 12:10). When man is responsible for the destruction of an entire species or kind of animal, this is serious. For God has not given man dominion over the animals in order for man to abuse them, or to waste them, or to destroy them utterly, but to govern them and to care for them.

While care and concern for the environment and conservation are not the primary duty of the Christian Church (which is to save souls using the Means of Grace), nevertheless we must recognize our obligation to take care of the world over which God has given us dominion. But while we have a concern for the physical needs of the world, our main concern is the spiritual welfare of souls through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament.

The individual Christian’s role in this area is to be thoughtful of the creation, both the earth and the creatures on it, as we go about our lives. Do not waste water or power, consider the benefits of creating or maintaining shade on property you own, do not use harmful or toxic chemicals without great care, if at all. The individual Christian’s role can also roll over into the political sphere, but this is not required of us. If we choose to vote or petition about an important issue, especially one that involves life or death to people or animals (such as abortion issues or conservation issues), we have the right to do so as citizens. But we must remember that the purpose of the church, of Christians individually and collectively, is the singular assignment of proclaiming the Word of God in all of its truth and purity and administering the sacraments according to Christ’s institution. That is the assignment that Jesus gave to the church at his ascension. Therefore we must remember that social concerns, even environmental concerns, are not the main business of the Christian Church. The church that makes its primary function the concerns of this world for health and welfare and good government and the like has lost its way. The environment, the welfare of the created world, the animal world, and even the physical needs of the people of the world, belong especially to the state, that is, the government. Each of us is free to help, but we must not insist that others do exactly as we do.

In our Confession we are reminded: “Lawful civil ordinances are God’s good [creations] and divine ordinances in which a Christian may safely take part. [The Gospel] lets us make outward use of the legitimate political ordinances of the nation in which we live, just as it lets us make use of medicine or architecture, food or drink or air” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession XVI:2). Therefore once again, a Christian is free to take part in ecological conservation or humanitarian pursuits or similar efforts, so long as he or she does not insist that the church must do likewise.

The lessons of the fifth day include these things, many of which are not much touched on elsewhere in Scripture, but we can especially apply the abundance God gives on this day with man’s attitude toward such abundance. In this way, the great creatures of the sea can teach a lesson to us about contentment, covetousness, even greed, “because this is improper for God’s holy people” (Ephesians 5:3). The abundance of fish and birds should teach us to marvel at God’s generosity, and his ability to supply us with all of our needs, as Jesus did in the Feeding of the Five Thousand. And yet sins of greed and unthankfulness plague us.

“He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty” (Proverbs 22:16). Where we have fallen into sins of discontent, miserliness, and even greed, we are drawn to repent, and the gospel declares God’s forgiveness. Paul comforts sinners: “We were gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:3-5). His compassion and his mercy endure forever.

The Lord our God fills our skies, seas, streams and lakes with fish and fowl. He blesses us with them for food, for other resources that we can use, but most especially because they give him glory, they point his providence, and they teach us other lessons. May the Lord teach us to see his blessings and to give thanks for what he gives, for he satisfies us with good things.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive