We often thank God for His provisions and for the evidence of His grace in our lives. Most of the time, however, we forget to thank Him for the blessings we get from nature and His other creation. Our busy lives rob us of the opportunity to bask in the glorious abundance of the land and the seas that surround us. We are content with worshipping God in the comforts of our own home or our church, and we fail to appreciate the fact that God meticulously created nature for us to enjoy and take care of.

The moment we confine ourselves to routine and forget about our duty to take care of nature, we also neglect the fact that we are responsible for the massive damage that nature is experiencing right now. In particular, our oceans are in dire need of protection and conservation. Marine life diversity is in constant danger because of the pollution and harmful chemicals that are dumped in the ocean daily. Directly or indirectly, we have played a major role in the ocean’s devastation – something that has already been happening even in biblical times.

This can be seen in Isaiah 24:4-6;

“The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.”

Our Biblical Mandate to Care for the Ocean

One of the reasons why God created man is for him to be able to rule over all creations.

In Genesis 1:26, God said;

“…Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

We should honor God and obey the mandate He gave us by making sure that we are able to take care of all His creation, including the ocean.It is never too late to include ocean stewardship in the daily cross that we have to bear.

Yes, we can honor God by singing praises to Him. We can obey His commands by sharing the gospel to others. But we must also be burdened by the responsibility to take care of the ocean so we can continue to enjoy all the blessings that God has prepared for us through the vast bodies of water that He has created.

We do not have to leave our jobs or our ministry. Little things that we do on a daily basis can greatly contribute to our collective effort to protect our ocean and marine life from further damage and destruction. By being involved in community campaigns and petitions to celebrate creation and protect our environment, we are already pleasing God in our own little way.

Join us in the upcoming celebration of Creation Day. Click here to find out more about Creation Day 2015.