“Let the Sea

and everything

in it… shout

His Praise!”

(Psalm 96:11)

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“Once Upon a Starfish…”

by Debbie Allen

Did you know that Starfish are not considered to be anything close to a ‘star’ or a ‘fish’?
Also called Sea Stars, these beautiful, spineless creations do mimic the stars, but only in shape. When hundreds of them are found strung out across the ocean floor, scientists refer to them as a ‘galaxy!’  Unlike true fish, Starfish cannot even swim! They lack scales, gills, and fins. They glide through ocean waters gracefully, but painfully slow; powered by hundreds of tubular, suction-cupped feet lining their under-belly, which fill with water to help inch them forward. They have no brain, and sea water pumps through their bodies instead of blood. On the tip of each of their arms, is an eye-spot which cannot see images as you and I see… but are highly sensitive to light and darkness.

Our Amazing God, created over 2,000 different species of Star Fish, and scattered them across the oceans all around the world. These beautiful creatures are an intricate part of God’s Good, and perfectly designed Creation. We can look back in the Bible and see what God Himself thought about His created Starfish.  On the fifth day of creation, Genesis 1:21 tells us this:

“God created the great sea creatures and every living ‘thing that moves’ with which the waters teemed, according to their kinds… And God saw that ‘it was good.’”

Though He spoke over all his newly created living ‘things that move’ that day…I envision God’s Eye for Beauty pausing a little longer when it came to His Starfish.  I imagine Him stopping to gaze once more at their eye-catching geometric forms, and the intricate and brilliant colors, and patterns He’d chosen for them; all catching the light underwater as they moved with eagerness and grace across the ocean floor towards accomplishing His Divine purpose for them.  Eyeing His Starfish at day’s end, God Spoke a Blessing over all His creations that day… His Contentment reflected in these last three beautiful words written in the Genesis passage…  “It was good.” 

God looked down upon His Starfish that day and saw that, “It was good.” 

Yes… Starfish may not have been equipped with a brain to reason with, or a heart to feel with… but God designed them with a very specific purpose. He made His Starfish a lifeform capable of helping define an entire underwater ecosystem! Without them in our oceans…no other species can do their job, and the entire ecosystem is in danger of collapsing or ceasing to exist.

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“Yes… Starfish may not have been equipped with a brain to reason with, or a heart to feel with… but God designed them with a very specific purpose… to define an entire underwater ecosystem!“

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What a beautiful testament of God’s Love, Power, and Wisdom the Starfish is!   A grand reflection of God’s Sovereignty and Authority reigning over even the most isolated and mysterious corners of the ocean floor!

My heart is ‘wowed’ by both the simplicity…and the complexity of the Starfish!  No brain…no heart…yet it’s a ‘thing that moves’ toward accomplishing God’s purposes only, every single moment it’s moving in the underwater ecosystem, where other creature’s lives depend on it to be successful without fail, every day! Beyond that, the starfish is always displaying God’s Glory back to Him; as well as His Beauty and other facets of the Creator’s Love for all of Creation…including you and I. Sometimes God, in His Wisdom, chooses to use the Starfish to send humanity a Message; one written often in the sands of our own beaches. An attention-grabbing Message intended to point our hearts toward the reality of God’s Love, Presence, and the truth of our own purpose in this life. Sadly, this Message comes to us with great sacrifice…and at the peril of many starfish:

THE MESSAGE…

There was a man who was running along a beach in California one foggy morning.  Though he could see nothing for a great distance, as the morning sun grew brighter and warmer the fog began to lift.  As the man continued running, he caught sight of a young girl in the distance who appeared to be throwing something into the ocean; over and over again.  Curious, he picked up his pace.  As he drew closer, he could see that hundreds of starfish were washed up on the beach from the force of a storm the night before, and the incoming tide. Finally reaching the young girl, the man stopped and asked her, “What are you doing?”

“I’m saving the starfish” she replied.  “If they don’t make it back into the ocean they will die.”

The man looked around and shook his head, seeing hundreds of starfish laying helpless in the sand. There are too many! You can’t even begin to save all these starfish! You are only one little girl…what difference can you possibly make?”

Never missing a beat, the girl picked up another starfish off the beach and hurled it back into the sea. Then she turned to the man and replied to him, “W-e-l-l…I made a difference to that one!”

It’s fitting that the man in this story is ‘running’ along the beach. He, like so many in the world today, is too, self-focused and short-sighted to see beyond his own needs and rationalizations about what he sees in the sand that day. He could’ve had compassion on both the young girl and the dying starfish. He could’ve chosen to help her throw starfish back into the water, and doubled her impact.  But he didn’t…he read the entire Message on the beach wrong, labeled it as a waste of his time and the girl’s effort, and then he did what runners do best…he ran away!

The young girl, on the other hand, assessed the Message in the sand perfectly! She recognized the helplessness and severity of the need before her.  Without her help, all of the starfish would die! With compassion, the little girl began picking up starfish, one at a time, and hurling them back into the ocean. Grateful to have been at the right place at the right time, she understood it was no accident. Though the task was great, her passion to save what was dying was greater.  Sometimes God chooses small hands to do great things.  The little girl made a difference in the world that day, because she chose to do something rather than nothing.  She chose life…and life is always the right choice!

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“The little girl made a difference in the world that day, because she chose to do something rather than nothing. She chose life…and life is always the right choice!”

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Do you know what one of the most profound things about this Message written in the sand was?  Many of those starfish ended up dying that day…but even in death they reflected the Creator’s Goodness, Mercy, and Compassion in this world. You see…Out of all the countless sea creatures that God could’ve chosen to wash up on the beach after that storm; God chose starfish. He, in His Mercy, uniquely equipped His starfish for their purpose from their first day to their last day. Because starfish have no brain or heart, they cannot process thoughts or feelings. They don’t even know they are alive… and so they cannot know or feel when they die either.  God’s Mercy and Grace never fail to amaze me!

Just like starfish are designed for a unique purpose throughout their life span here on earth, you and I were also created by God with a specific purpose in mind—to Glorify God. To make Him known… to make God BIG in the eyes of a watching world!  Unlike the starfish…God, in His Wisdom, created you and I with a mind to make choices; and a heart capable of Loving Him, and others around us.  We can choose to be like that ‘little girl on the beach giving her all to save the starfish’…or we can become the ‘self-focused runner on the beach who chose to do nothing over doing something that made a life-and-death difference in this world.’ Only one of these choices even comes close to defining the purpose our Creator gave you and I in life…and it wasn’t the runner.  The constraints of that purpose are magnified time and time again on the pages of the Bible… God’s Love Letters to all Humanity. Here God very plainly reveals our purpose in life:

“Love GOD, your GOD, with your whole heart:

love Him with all that’s in you, love Him with all you’ve got!”

(Deuteronomy 6:5 MSG)

What a different place our world would be if you and I, as children of God would choose every day to love God with all of our heart…to love Him with all that’s in us…to love Him with all we’ve got! What would it look like to step into our God-designed purpose the way our Creator meant for us to? When I think of the starfish and the enormous capacity God gave even these spineless wonders to help define an entire underwater ecosystem; I’m in awe!  Then I remember all our Creator God has given to me and you…and even the starfish suddenly pales.

You see… God gave all of mankind His very Breath of Life …The Creator’s Breath is in our lungs! We have the gift of a mind to make hard choices and bold decisions, and the option to fill it with God’s Promises. A heart capable of loving God and others beats steady within our chest. That beautiful heart is housed in a body created with arms made to wrap around another’s shoulders in deepest times of need.  We are equipped with legs and feet to carry us toward our very purpose in life. Our hands can be lifted high in praise to God in times of joy and celebration; yet, folded so tightly together in times of prayer and struggle. Our fingers, though small, they are many; are perfect for pointing ‘The Way’ out to those on this earth seeking Heaven above; yet designed to be intertwined with the fingers of those we hold dearest in our heart. God gave us eyes to see for ourselves the beauty of all Creation! The tears that fall from our eyes are especially precious to our Creator…so much so He collects every single tear we cry in a bottle, from our first breath to our last.  Our ears are no less a miracle… not only do they help us navigate the endless noise and confusion of this world; but they were intricately designed to hear the Tender Whispers of God in those moments He Speaks His Love down into our soul.

Our Amazing God also endowed us as human beings, with five incredible senses. We often take our hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch for granted…but the fact there are five of them is significant. The number 5 in the Hebrew language is associated with God’s Grace… carrying with it the idea of being filled, prepared, and empowered to step into whatever mission YHWH has prepared for us to do in this life!

 Much like the lives of innumerable sea creatures and other underwater life forms depend every day upon the starfish to faithfully accomplish their God-Designed purpose in the ocean ecosystems… there are countless human lives living within our own circles of influence on this earth, waiting for you and I to step forward into our God-Given Purpose.  To faithfully extend a hand toward those helpless and dying in life right before our eyes. To choose to make a difference…to be the one who picks them up one-life-at-a-time… and helps them discover one-Word-at-a-time, the new life and new meaning that is ours when we choose to help others find their way into an Ocean’s-worth of God’s Everlasting Love!

The story of the little girl and the starfish on the beach so beautifully magnifies God’s purpose for creating you and I in the grand scheme of Life. Like the starfish, we were meant to glorify Him… before the eyes of a watching world. Our Creator God graciously created you and I with a mind capable of making choices, and a heart meant to love and trust Him with the purpose He equipped us for at birth.  We are to ‘love God with all our hearts, minds, and strength’—and to share both God, and the Truth of His Love with all those we encounter on our paths in this world. Though it’s true that God accomplishes great things with small hands; our feet must be running toward His purposes…not away from them, in order to impact our world in the way God designed us to.  When we choose anything else in life… we are choosing so-o-o-o much less than we were meant for.   

“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

(1 Corinthians 10:31, BSB)

 (images / by Freepiks)