Swimming in Sand

Romans 11:33-36
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

Their crystalline world might seem like another planet as they swim past monolithic crystals larger than themselves and down channels lined with nearly clear, often form-fitted boulders. But this exotic world is not on another planet. It may be below your feet.

While the wet sand of the beach may sometimes appear to be completely lifeless, it is literally saturated with life. Under a microscope, you would see countless creatures, some of them so small that they can actually swim in the small amounts of water between grains of sand. There might be tiny sand fleas which were washed ashore, appearing as giants next to the single-celled dinoflagellates which swim freely between the grains. The microscope can also show tiny marine worms and crustaceans of unimagined shapes navigating channels that may be smaller than a human hair. And even if you were to take dry sand from high above the water line and add water, you would soon find it teeming with the same kind of life.

Man’s sin has caused untold destruction of the perfect form of God’s creation. However, that original creation was so vibrant and wonderful that even the present shadow of what God originally made is saturated with life and beauty. While even our best science cannot hope to create anything like this, who among us creatures could even imagine creating such wonders!

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, the wonders that were made through You are beyond my ability to imagine. Help me to always remember that I look toward a new heaven and Earth, even as I have been made a new creation through Your saving work. Amen.

Notes:
William H. Amos. “The Living Sand.” National Geographic, Vol. 127, No. 6, pp. 828-833. Photo: At night, bioluminescent dinoflagellates can give water the appearance of sparkling light. Courtesy of Hans Hillewaert. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.