Reflections on a Sea Turtle

Yesterday morning during my sunrise bike ride I saw three brand new sea turtle nests. The mama turtle crawls onto the beach, goes up to the sand dune area where the tide doesn’t reach, digs a big hole, lays her eggs, covers them up and then crawls back to the ocean. You know you have a new egg site because you can see the large turtle tracks going to and from the nest. I’m fascinated by these creatures and always think it’s awesome to see a new nest. Then I had an extra special treat when I saw a single baby sea turtle attempting to get into the water. This happened to me a couple of years ago as well. The turtles usually hatch together and make their frantic dash to the sea, attempting to avoid being eaten by birds. But this was just one little fellow, who looked a little lackadaisical, even a little afraid of the water (not a good trait for a “sea” turtle!) Anyway, I stayed with it for a while and since the tide was coming in it didn’t appear to be able to make it so I gently picked it up and took it out into the deeper water and let it go. (if this is a federal crime, I lay myself at the mercy of the court). Anyway, what I began to think about was the question, “How is God aware of this sea turtle?” I tend to be pretty convinced of the absolute sovereignty of God, that He knows every minute of my life and of everyone else’s life for that matter. But is that really true? There are others who say that God is simply knowledgeable about the possibilities that are out there. I was thinking about this as it relates to the sea turtle. Does God know about this sea turtle? Does God care about the sea turtle? Did God know that I would be at this beach at this time and that I would ride my bike and just “happen” to look down and see the turtle? Or is all of that too much detail for God to be concerned about; especially as it relates to insignificant things like me and a sea turtle? What came to my mind were the following words from Romans chapter 11…well, the words came to my mind but I didn’t know where it was in the Bible until I looked it up…33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” 35 “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. I’m content to believe that there is much, much, much I don’t know or understand about God and His ways. I don’t need to figure it out. I mean, the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love my neighbor…I don’t need a lot of theology to figure out how to do that. I’m not against theology and I appreciate those who study and write about it; but it’s mornings like these…and my adventures with my sea turtle, that help me appreciate how “big” God is and how thankful I am that He loves me and that I know Him.