Australia and the Glory of God

I learned, for example, that female kangaroos can halt the growth of their developing embryos during periods of famine, “waiting” until there is abundant food to finish their pregnancy. They are surprisingly graceful and beautiful animals while leaping across the outback, a habitat for which they are ideally suited.

About three-quarters of Australia is a vast desert known as the outback. Droughts last for decades, and there are thousands of miles of sand dunes. But once in a great while – perhaps as rarely as twice a century – there are bigger-than-normal monsoons in the coastal areas. Over a period of several months, the water makes its way down dry waterways, all the way to the interior. Lakes and rivers appear out of nowhere, and the desert literally blossoms, covered with plants and flowers whose seeds were dormant for many years.

Not only do the plants come out in force, but animals do, as well. The film showed millions of fish swimming in the newly-formed rivers, hatched from eggs that have lain dormant for decades. Huge flocks of pelicans travel to the inland water to feast on these fish, and bring up several sets of offspring in a few months’ time.

Inevitably, the water dries up. The fish die, the pelicans return to the coast, the flowers fade. As I watched the end of the film, I asked myself, “Why?” Why create all this life and beauty for such a short time? And what does it accomplish? Almost no one even sees it, and it doesn’t seem to improve the economy, lower taxes, or even produce food. What is the point?

The answer? It brings glory to God.  I believe He created all things for His own pleasure, and His attributes are displayed in His creation. “Australia” was a special reminder of that truth.

“O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”

Psalm 8