Our Planet: Creation’s Grandeur and a Groaning World
| 🎬 Title & Year | Our Planet: One Planet (2019) |
| 🎥 Director / Series Producer | Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey |
| 👥 Narrator | David Attenborough |
| 🕒 Genre / Runtime | Documentary, Nature · 50 mins |
| 🔞 MPA / Content Rating | TV-PG |
| ✝️ Core Faith Themes | Divine Order in Creation, Holy Patience and Vigilance, Sacrificial Devotion, Cosmic Groaning and Biblical Stewardship |
| 📖 Key Scripture | Psalm 8:1, 3–4, Psalm 104:24–25, Matthew 25:1–13, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 12:9–10, Job 37:5–6, Job 38:1–4, Romans 8:22, Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15 |
Table of Contents
Welcome to this Our Planet Christian Review. After a long time, I watched a nature documentary. Looking at the wondrous creation, this earth we live in, and the world God crafted, I found myself feeling infinitely small. Finally, the scenes of walruses falling to their deaths from cliffs without apparent reason, ending by presenting the issue of climate change, left both the viewers and me with many questions. Now, shall we go together to see the beautiful nature God has created?
Episode 1 of the Netflix documentary Our Planet draws the viewer in from the very beginning with the overwhelming scale of the vast ocean. The magnificent sight of dozens of sharks parting the blue waters, alongside millions of seabirds and dolphins hunting massive schools of fish, immediately reminds us of human insignificance.
Seeing millions of dolphins, sharks, and walruses, Psalm 104:24-25 came to mind: “How many are your works, 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.”
The ocean is not a mere collection of physical matter; it is a grand stage where God’s exquisite providence and continuous supply breathe in every single moment.
24 Months in the Siberian Forest: The Joy Tasted by Those Who Waited with Lamps
One of the most deeply moving scenes in this documentary is the behind-the-scenes story of the crew pursuing the Siberian tiger. Amid severe sub-zero cold and isolation, the production team set up camera traps in the snow and waited for the tiger for a staggering 24 months (two full years). After this prolonged perseverance of two years, the footage of the tiger captured on camera lasted only a few minutes. Yet, on the faces of the crew who captured that brief moment, an indescribable, pure joy and deep emotion spread.
This image vividly brings to mind the parable in Matthew 25 of the wise virgins who prepared oil in their jars with their lamps and waited for the bridegroom. Modern people have become accustomed to instant gratification and rapid answers, losing the spirituality of patient waiting. However, faith is a holy vigilance that clings to an unseen promise (Hebrews 11:1) and quietly keeps the lamp burning in the cold wilderness. Just like the crew who encountered the tiger after two years of silence, on the day believers finally behold the glory of the returning Lord, every season of past perseverance and suffering will transform into radiant joy.
What have you been waiting for over a long period? Just like the crew who waited for two years, and like the virgins who prepared oil in their lamps awaiting the bridegroom, I believe that if we also wait day by day with gratitude, that promised day will surely come.
Passion Surpassing Skin Rashes and Pain: Devotion That Reveals the Mysteries of Creation
Another truth hidden behind the camera was the bone-carving physical sacrifice of the filming crew. To capture orangutans and wild animals on camera in harsh environments, the crew silently endured piercing heat, swarming insects, and severe atopic rashes and sores covering their entire legs. They willingly surrendered their physical comfort to reveal the hidden beauty of God’s creatures to the world.
This leads us to meditate on the “sufferings of a minister” that the Apostle Paul confessed in 2 Corinthians 12. Bringing the glory of God and the mystery of the Gospel into the world always demands a price. Just as the passion of the crew mined breathtaking scenes while enduring physical wounds and suffering, the life of a Christian must also be a holy devotion that refuses to settle in worldly comfort and willingly walks the narrow path to demonstrate the living presence of God.
Calving Glaciers and the Mother-Calf Blue Whales: God’s Absolute Sovereignty and Care
The collapse of a colossal glacier captured after waiting two whole weeks with bated breath reveals the absolute majesty of nature. Millions of tons of ice plunging into the sea and blasting massive columns of water call to mind Job 37:5-6:
“God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our comprehension. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.'”
It is an overwhelming power that human technology and wisdom can never control.
On the other hand, the footage quietly captured by an Inspire drone floating above the blue depths features a mother blue whale and her calf swimming peacefully alongside her. The profoundly gentle and quiet companionship displayed by the earth’s largest living creature evokes deep reverence. Just as God declared out of the whirlwind in Job 38 that He creates and feeds the sea and its colossal beasts, God is both the sovereign Ruler who shatters massive ice walls and the tender Shepherd who meticulously cares for the mother and calf of creation’s greatest life.
The Walrus Falling from the Cliff: The Groaning Creation and Human Responsibility
From beginning to end, I was captivated by wonder while watching this documentary, but its most tragic climax was the shocking account of the walruses that lost their sea ice sanctuaries.
Forced onto narrow coastal cliffs, thousands of walruses, hampered by poor eyesight as they attempt to return to the sea for food, tumble helplessly down dizzying precipices to their deaths. Watching that scene on camera—rolling down the cliff when no one pushed them from behind—was truly an immense shock to me. Beyond the perspectives of nature’s providence and climate cycles, this miserable fall brings profound spiritual sorrow.
Romans 8:22 testifies:
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
While shifts in climate and nature exist within the rhythm of creation, human greed and reckless exploitation have unnaturally accelerated the pace of that suffering and collapse. The cries of walruses tumbling down the cliffs are an aspect of universal cosmic lament groaning beneath human sinfulness. The mandate of “dominion” God gave to humanity (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15) was not destructive tyranny, but a stewarding service caring for creation with life. The tragedy of the walrus is a stern spiritual warning calling us to restore our lost stewardship.
What thoughts crossed your mind while watching this documentary? Just like our discussion on Seaspiracy, I am by no means radically agitating people through this documentary to say, “Let’s stop eating fish from the sea!” or “We must never eat them because we have to protect them!” As I always emphasize, our focus is to look beyond the screen, meditate on how we ought to live through a Christian worldview, and reflect on how we love one another.
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
Key Takeaways & Faith Insights
- Awe Inspiring Humility: The boundless scale of the oceans, teeming wildlife, and calving glaciers shatter human pride, redirecting our hearts to revere the infinite power and tender providence of the Creator. (Psalm 104:24–25)
- The Endurance of Holy Waiting: Just as filmmakers persevered through twenty-four bitter months to behold the Siberian tiger, authentic faith calls believers to watch with trimmed lamps in the wilderness until Christ’s glorious return. (Matthew 25:1–13)
- Sacrificial Devotion for the Unseen: Physical suffering, skin afflictions, and relentless hardship willingly borne in the field reflect the apostolic call to surrender comfort and bear hardships for the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)
- Restoring Broken Stewardship: The agonizing fall of walruses from melting cliffs is creation’s cosmic groan under the weight of human sin, demanding that we abandon destructive greed and embrace our sacred calling as faithful stewards. (Romans 8:22)
“What we do in the next twenty years will determine the future for all life on Earth.”
— Sir David Attenborough, Our Planet
Explore More Screen Devotions:
- 🎬 Movies: Explore Other Faith-Based Film Reflections
- 🎨 Animation: Spiritual Insights in Animated Films
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
