Unlikely as it may seem, every year scientists around the world are announcing the official discovery of previously unknown species of animals and plants. In 2021 it was discovered that a certain whale, previously misidentified, now named Rices Whale has been swimming with others of his kind in the Gulf of Mexico, and is already nearing extinction. Several new types of wild orchids are discovered every year, not to mention reptiles, birds, mammals and insects. Some scientists estimate that only about 20% of the species on planet earth have been identified and classified.

While concerns for the climate crisis, envision a world on the brink of collapse, the discoveries of an orange colored bat found in West Africa or of two new species of owls in Brazil, open my imagination to a world untouched by anxiety or fear for the future. Even the newly discovered endangered species are unconcerned with their own predicaments.

The birds that make the phenomenal migration across the hemisphere to destinations that are shifting and changing are entirely unselfconscious in their preparations and flights. Their focus is simply survival and many of them have been supremely successful for generations.

“God saw all that He had made and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Every new discovery brings joy to those engaged in studying the natural world, Every new species, animal or plant, brings surprise and delight, no matter how endangered or fragile it is. We, too, look at what God has created and see that it is indeed “very good”.

“To even wicked people, what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

May these discoveries lead us to put aside our fears and anxieties , if only briefly, and rediscover our own Maker in ever more wonderful ways.

Love in Him,

Prue