Creatures of the sea

Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth. And God blessed them and told them to be fruitful and multiply. What moves me about this is the sequence. God blesses the creatures of the sea and sky on day five, before He ever creates human beings on day six. His delight in creation is not conditional on the presence of people to appreciate it. The oceans teem with creatures that no human eye has ever seen, in depths we will never reach, and God blessed them and called them good. His care for the natural world is not instrumental — it is not just a backdrop for the human story. He delights in what He has made for its own sake. This challenges how I think about the environment, about animals, about the parts of creation that exist entirely beyond human awareness.