Stinging Reminder

Many of us listened with shock and sorrow to hear of the sudden death of the "Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin. His TV documentaries entertained and informed a whole generation of wild life lovers. The world will miss his daring and dazzling performances in the face of the most dangerous animals on the planet.
Mr. Irwin's work, that he obviuously loved, and his tragic death are a reminder of the words of Psalm 8. In that psalm the song writer speaks of how the world was when God created all things. The song refers to man as "ruler over the works of your (God's ) hands." As ruler over creation everything was under his control, "all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas." The idyllic picture of the psalm is far from what we have seen on Mr. Irwin's TV shows and far from his shocking death by one of God's creation. Why this change in God's created order with man now in fear and animals striking out at God's viceregents? The message of the Bible is that man has messed up. Adam's sin and ours has ruined creation itself. But thank God that Psalm 8 also speaks of an answer. Psalm 8 is ultimately about the Lord Jesus Christ, "made a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned with glory and honour." His entrance into this world was the answer to man's sin and a creation out of kilter with man. In Christ there is cleansing from all our sin. So great was His work on the cross that when He returns He will bring such an amazing change to the created order that the Bible speaks of it as the lamb and lion lying down together. When He comes there will be no dangerous animals, no poisonous barbed stingrays. He wants all who read this to be ready for His coming and to enjoy His new creation. There is one way to be ready - by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.