There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. – Psalm 104:26

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 20, 2013): Psalm 104

For most of the history of creation the sea has been terrible place. It has been describe throughout the ages as a place of chaos and the unknown. I like to play the various versions of Sid Meyer’s computer game “Civilizations.” And in the early versions of the game there were certain boats that could not wander far from shore. The early game would let these boats roam, but there was a chance that the boat would simply sink at the end of your turn. And it reflected very accurately the early days of sea exploration. You could take your boat out beyond the horizon, but there was no guarantee that you would ever come back. When you go beyond the horizon you might find a new land, with minerals and riches and the fame that goes along with discovering some place that is totally unknown – but you also might just find more water and chaos and death. It might be that you find the land, or that you miss the land all because your starting place was incorrect or you went slightly in the wrong direction. Survival on the water so often seemed to depend on the roll of the dice.

So there has been a mystery about the way that the ships survived on the seas – and along with that mystery was the reality that not all of the ships did survive.  On the water, it seemed that chaos reigned. And for a long time there was nothing more courageous in all of humanity than the person who wants to fight the chaos and explore the mysteries of the oceans.

But there is another reality. As much as we battle the water, there are other beings for which the oceans are their playgrounds. If we could speak with them of our fear of the chaos that is the oceans of this world, they would not understand. And this would be especially true for the huge ones that are at the top of the food chain - the ones that fear nothing that is in the sea and that do not fear the water itself. The psalmist uses a word here that we really do not have a definition for – Leviathan. The Leviathan is a sea monster, some have described it as a dragon, but the most likely animal that the Psalmist is referring to is a whale. For the whale, this place of chaos is nothing but the place where they get to swim and play – jumping up into the air for the fun of it and then crashing back into the ocean splashing water all around them – all so that they can turn and do it again. But the reality for the whale is that they have a place of chaos as well, but for them it is the land that offers them chaos and death – the very place where we run and play.

The Psalmist loses himself in the recognition of the diversity of life. And how God could create beings that live in the places where we fear to go, that we live in the places where they fear to go - and that all of this is just part of his amazing plan.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 105

Note: The VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) Message "Clothed" from the series "An Epic Summer" is now available on the VantagePoint Website. The Message includes a great dramatic presentation by Greg Gerdes and Craig Mullen. You won't want to miss it and you can find it here.