I was sitting next to a lagoon in the Southern Cape. At low tide, the lagoon empties almost completely, and with high tide, all that water runs back in again. A huge volume of water that empties in 6 hours and 12.5 minutes, and runs back in in the same amount of the time, controlled by the ocean’s low and high tides.

I wonder how many man made mega pumps would be required to shift so much water in the same amount of time. I wonder how much electricity it would take to run the pumps. I wonder how much it would cost.

And that is just one lagoon of the thousands of lagoons all over the world that work in the same way. Every 6 hours and a bit they all empty and fill up again. With the same regularity, no exceptions.

But every now and then the sea and sand close up the mouth of the lagoon and it turns into a dam filled with lukewarm water. This is very important for the ecology, because it allows many fish to lay their eggs in the lagoon.

Other fish enter the lagoon when they’re still young and then they can remain there safely with lots of food at their disposal until they’re big enough to tackle the ocean. This happens when the lagoon has pushed open the mouth again.

There are many more wonderful things that happen in lagoons, like the fresh water plants that developed a mechanism to extract the salt from the sea water. You can see the salt level marks on the underside of the plants.

How amazing is creation! I can always picture God having so much joy in imagining and creating every little animal. How awesome the biodiversity and the thousands of processes keeping everything going successfully day after day, year after year – despite human interference threatening to disrupt everything.

When you gain a little understanding of the absolute awesomeness of creation, you start wondering how much more amazing the Creator is. The One who made everything, the ¹⁶… rivers of light cascading down …

This is the Creator who is also your God. He who knows your name. He who even knows the number of hairs on your head. This is the same Creator God who loves you so much that He sent His Son to earth. He came to die so that we don’t have to be punished for our sin.

In the same way that God has already done the best thing for us on the cross, He also wants to give you the best right there where you are today. Often in my life I am speechless to see all that I receive from God, from grace alone, despite all that I’m doing wrong.

God is still in control, even though it may not feel like it. Make time to think about God’s greatness again. For sure you will walk away changed, and, yes, the sun may rise again in your times of darkness …

Scripture
James 1:12-18

Reflection
How great is God for you?
What does God’s creation do for you?
Do you expect God to work in your world too?

Prayer
O, Almighty Creator God, how great is Your creation! How great are You! And You know my name. How small, and how big, I feel! All glory to You who can gather people. I want to be with You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.