God’s Aquarium (Psalm 104:24-26)
God created his own aquarium. 
There are living creature in the sea which no human being has ever seen and most of which have only recently come within human sight. For centuries the oceans and their depths were only visible to God–they were his personal aquarium. But he did not intend to enjoy it alone. As we develop the gifts God has invested in us–underwater travel, cameras, etc.–the glory of these creatures become visible to us.
Using Psalm 104 as a meditation on God’s creative work–in the past and present–we rejoice in God’s works. Moreover, as Psalm 104 sings, God himself rejoices over the works of creation (v. 31).
The creation is the glory of God (v.31). God gives his glory, his majesty, his awe, to the creation. We ourselves were crowned with “glory and honor” (Psalm 8), and the earth which is full of God’s creatures (v.24) is also the glory of God. Their splendor is God’s own work. The wonder of creation mirrors the wonder of God.
With the eye of faith I see God smile as he watches the playfulness of the ocean’s creatures. When humback whales rise out of the water with majestic awe, God smiles. 
When dolphins race through the water skimming the tops of the waves, God smiles. When schools of “nemos” move back in forth in unison, God smiles.
God created the”Leviathan” to “play” in the ocean. Whatever the Leviathan is–something akin to the mythic “Moby Dick” I would guess–playfulness is God’s intent.
And God enjoys the playfulness of his aquarium. I enjoy it, too. God smiles, and so do I.
“May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord” (Psalm 104:34).
May 11th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Thank you for bringing my mind and meditation to this beautiful Psalm and the glory of God’s creation. I love your thought, “With the eye of faith I see God smile as he watches the playfulness of the ocean’s creatures.” I do think God smiles when His creatures enjoy life as He intended. May we rejoice.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
God does delight in his good creation. It was good working with you again “live” at Pepperdine. See you soon in Nashville …
May 11th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I appreciate the joy of your post, but it also makes me feel a little tragic, knowing that just as the depths have only recently been available for our still limited viewing pleasure, they are also newly vulnerable to our carelessness. The current gulf incident is perhaps too fresh on my mind.
As our reach extends, surely our responsibility and culpability does as well. Whenever we extend ourselves carelessly into God’s glorious playgrounds, we must remember to be in wonder, and tread carefully!
Today, this psalm is both praise and call for repentance!
May 12th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Indeed, the creation has become a tragic place as humans invade it with carelessness rather than love and joy. But despite the wounds we have inflicted, the goodness of creation remains, abounds and God will preserve it. Thanks for the reminder.
May 11th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Speaking of Yahweh’s commitment to creation interestingly enough, Jeremiah when speaking of the covenantal promise to house of David he assures Israel they can believe it because it is like God’s covenant with the created order,
“If you break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken” (Jer 33.20-21)
May 11th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
I would consider that God, indeed, does things for his own pleasure (and/or in His handling of Creation) that He has no intention of sharing.
For example, Job 38:25-27 says, “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?”
This is God simply doing what He’s doing, “where no man is…” I think the oceans can be the same. I’m guessing there are possibly MILLIONS of creatures we have no clue about in the depths of the sea; indeed, maybe millions more that have come and gone without our knowledge. But God knows, and He enjoys it.