Last week we looked at “Why Do Birds Sing?”  We found that many have quite a repertoire and sing for a number of reasons: to attract a mate, to stake out a territory, to warn others of danger, but also just to encourage or express joy after a refreshing spring rain.  They were wisely and ingeniously “programmed” by their Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, “by whom all things were created both in the heavens and on earth” (Col. 1:16 cf Jn. 1:3).  

     A similar question for our discussion today is “Why do animals play?”  That is a question very perplexing to evolutionists who adhere to Charles Darwin’s theory of “the survival of the fittest” which presumes that all behaviors evolved in response to survival and selection. What exactly does play do for a young (or old) animal to become a more fit survivor, especially considering the energy and risk that it involves? If animals play for enjoyment and not to enhance their survivability, that does not fit in the evolutionists theories of origin and development.  If animals play just to be silly, then Darwinism is at a loss to explain the behavior’s origin. In Darwinism all behavior must be purely pragmatic and animals playing for pure enjoyment does not fit this formula.  If nature is locked in a battle for the survival of the fittest, where did all this “frolicking” among animals come from? 

     Who hasn’t gotten pleasure from watching kittens or puppies roll around and play, and it isn’t always with those of their kind. National Geographic did a video series of “Unlikely Animal Friends.” One episode was about Surya the orangutan that met Rosco the hound dog at a river park, and the two became best buddies, wrestling and running, hugging, rolling and just being silly. Was this just an accidental byproduct of natural forces or did God engineer this behavior?

     Many animals–and possibly all mammals–play: squirrels, kangaroos, monkeys, bear and lion cubs, wolf puppies. We have had the privilege of watching otters playing in the water and ducks going down a snow slide into a pond (then going back up and doing it again–just for fun). 

     Birds get into the act as well. Crows play pranks on other creatures, and will even team up to play. I read about a group of crows (called a “murder”!) that would fly toward each other, drop a tin plate and a member of another “team” would swoop down and catch it in mid air, turn and fly back toward the other team, drop the plate and continue the game–all the while being “very vocal” as only crows can be! 

     Our neighbors’ two labs beg pretty much daily to come over and “play ball.”  They play until they are tired and then head back home!  They have “a ball” and we get entertained. When we visit our children and their families in Oregon, we are entertained by their cats and dogs and all their silly antics.  So, why, if they are just the products of time and chance and got here by being survivors, do they enjoy playing?  It is because they were created by a God who loves us and loves to see our joy when we enjoy His creation and His creatures. 

       Psalm 104 describes what a great God we serve. One who is “Clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind. He makes the winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers. He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not totter forever and ever…He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell. They lift up their voices among the branches. He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works…O LORD, how many are Your works!  In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your possessions. There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, animals both small and great. There the ships move along and Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it” (vv. 1-4,10-13, 24-26).  “Leviathan (cf Job 41:1) was probably a sea-going dinosaur, and is described as being made to “sport (made to play) in the sea.” 

     So, why do animals play?  Because God created them that way for His pleasure, for the enjoyment of the animals themselves, and for the pleasure of those of us who have the joy of watching their antics. Thanks be unto “God, who richly supplies us with all things (including birds and animals) to enjoy” (I Tim. 6:17). 

Forever His,

Pastor Dave