“They that go down to the sea in ships . . . these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.”
Psalm 107:23-24
All the continents are surrounded by “continental shelves.” These extend out from the shores in rather shallow water but suddenly drop off into deep canyons, except for a few places where they continue as flat areas. It is along these continental shelves that most of the commercial fish are caught and where beautiful shells are found.
Incidentally, if you were looking up from the floor of the Bering Sea or the North Atlantic, you would discover that icebergs which appear so huge above the water are actually nine times larger underwater. No wonder they crush huge ocean vessels that get in their way!
Another discovery has been that not only volcanoes break through the ocean floors, but springs of clear, fresh, cold water bubble up, and also springs of boiling-hot water. The Creator has designed just the right kinds of sea life to live in each of these places.
It would not take long for an explorer to find that there are many caves in the rocky bottoms of the oceans. These caves almost always hold a wide variety of fish and other marine creatures, including Moray eels, many octopuses and huge numbers of squid. How amazed you would be as an explorer to find yourself surrounded by huge schools of fish, large and small, and to meet porpoises, sharks, whales and other large creatures.
However, you would not be able to explore very deep, even if equipped with a diving suit and scuba tanks, for the pressure of the deep water would crush you to death. Most submarines cannot venture into the deepest places, and yet the Creator has placed in them strange forms of sea life that live there, some of them equipped with electric rays that provide light as they swim about in the total darkness. However, if creatures living in these great depths are brought up to the surface, it means sudden death for them, for their bodies explode like a bomb.
If space permitted, we would look at more of the wonderful sights down below the surface of the seas, including the great variety of beautiful corals, shellfish, seaweed and other living forms the Creator has placed there. What a happy thought to think of the pleasure our Lord had in creating such a great variety and to know that He cares for them and supplies their needs.
Those who know the Lord Jesus as Saviour will someday sing the heavenly song quoted in the last book of the Bible: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11). Will you be in heaven to sing that song?
ML-10/08/2006