A Whale Story

How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!

Psalm 116:5 (NLT)

I was watching a video the other day which showed a fantastic rescue. A scuba diver was down exploring a reef system when a whale decided to come in for a closer look. Of course, whales are curious creatures, but they often don’t come right up to a diver, so it was a bit odd. What was even more strange was that the whale kept circling the diver, and even brushed up against him from time-to-time. After a while the whale swam away. The diver was extremely excited (understandably so) at his fortune to swim with a whale! As he surfaced, he was shouting out to his friends in the nearby dive-boat about how cool it was. What he heard in response, however, was even cooler. One of his friends called to him from the boat and asked, “Did you see the shark?” The diver’s mood changed. “What shark?” He replied. Apparently, a Tiger shark (known to be very aggressive) had been stalking the diver. His friends were helpless to let him know, as they had no way to communicate with him while he was underwater. Then, they all suddenly realized what the whale was doing – it was protecting the diver from the shark. You see, Tiger sharks may be fierce, but they won’t take on an animal that weighs several tons more than they do. The men who had been on the boat verified that it was only when the shark left that the whale left. The whale was this man’s protector.

I don’t know about you, but I was pretty awestruck at this story. That an animal would show protective instincts and compassion for something that wasn’t even the same species is pretty spectacular. He had no reason to do what he did. Yet, it was the right thing to do.

How much greater then is our Savior who guides and protects us every day? How awesome is the kindness and compassion that Jesus shows to us? How amazing is it that Jesus died in defending us from the sin that has corrupted our very lives? How crazy-cool is it that Jesus laid down His life to save us from our enemy? As our psalm states today, “How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!”

Today, and every day, spend some time reflecting on how amazing our God is. Spend time rejecting the negative and seeking the goodness of Jesus. Spend time praising Christ for his goodness, for his kindness. How good he is!

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