How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.  There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number – living things both large and small.   (Psalm 104:24-25 NIV)

      When I was in Cape Cod on vacation I was able to go out on a whale watch.  It wasn’t my first trip out, and it probably will not be my last time to go whale watching.  I was again not disappointed as the whales played and waived their tails at us like they were showing off.  This time as we were coming up on different whales the guide would begin to name it or them.  I looked at the lady next to me and almost in unison we said… “How do they know their names?”  As if the guide heard us he then preceded to tell us that whales are most commonly identified by their tails, (the coloration of the ventral surface of their flukes.)       

          You see, whales have different tail patterns ranging from all white to all black. A whale’s tail patterns are like human fingerprints – no whale has the exact same pattern, just like no human has the exact same fingerprint as another human. Each one is unique to the individual.  All I could think of as I listened and observed each whale I was taking pictures of was – that’s just like our God Who created them!  How can we not believe in a God when we learn that even non-humans were each created different and unique?  In Genesis we learn the animals were named… I figure that meant – that’s a whale, that’s a raccoon, that’s a deer, etc… but now, I’m thinking they were actually named.  Creation screams there is a GOD! 
           For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20 NIV).
         If God took so much effort to make whales different and know them by name… How exciting it is to know that that same God tells me that He knows me by name.   There is nothing that escapes God’s knowledge and ability to pick me out from the rest.  God doesn’t miss what is going on in my life… I am clearly identified by Him, my Creator.  That is the kind of God I have looking out for me. My Creator has given me an identity different from all others.  Not just whales, but humans… we are each fearfully and wonderfully made.  That is the same God who is looking out and watching over you. 
           Scientists can follow whales as they migrate and swim the vast seas.  God watches over us no matter where we are or what is going on in our lives.  Because He made us, designed us and marked us… there is no place where we are hidden from Him.  I don’t know about you, but to me that is fantastic news and news that allows me to rest in Him.  I am never alone… 
           If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the seah; even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:9-10).
     
Lynne Jahns
Christian Counselor

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