Did you read the classic James Herriott stories retelling the experiences of an English country veterinarian? I thoroughly enjoyed reading the detailed, even graphic accounts of treating farm animals and working among simple folks in rural Yorkshire. The veterinarian turned author wrote a series of four books and he gave each a title from an English hymn: All Creatures Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small, All Creatures Wise and Wonderful, and The Lord God Made Them All.
Cecil Frances Alexander wrote those words in 1848. Her lyrics reflected tenants of The Apostles Creed and may have been inspired by Psalm 104. The poem’s wording also echoed a stanza from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Whatever her inspiration, the concept of God’s creatures is now well-established in the English lexicon.
All God’s creatures, great and small, amaze me. I’m not a biologist (that’s my husband and daughter) but I appreciate the order, complexity, beauty, and creativity of living things, especially little things like flowers and insects. Field botany and biology courses in college piqued my interest in God’s tiniest creatures, starting with microscopic algae! My classmates and I collected, preserved and identified an assortment of plants and bugs. We became quite competitive regarding the varieties and sizes of our specimens, which would partially determine our course grade. I give much credit to one of my professors, Dr. Dorothy Chappell, who always pointed the origins of our amazing world to its amazing Creator.
God’s created organisms can all rightly be called God’s creatures, but another phrase is not so accurate. “God’s children” is an expression that some use to refer to all people. This is a misnomer. God’s children are those who have joined God’s family by means of repentance of their self-sufficiency, claiming instead dependence on God’s forgiving work through Jesus alone. Those are the only ones who can rightly be called “God’s children.” John 3:16 tells us that this opportunity is open to all, but the choice is ours.
The letter or epistle of First John (not the Gospel of John) uses the expression “children of God” several times. My pastor, David Platt, is currently preaching a sermon series on this book of the Bible. His sermons on First John can be found on-line at www.mcleanbible.org/sermons.