March 18
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place. What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)
After turning his attention to the glory of the heavens (and seeing the utter magnificence of God) the psalmist is drawn to an obvious observation. How is it that the God Who made the entire universe, with all its expanse and majesty, could ever have a thought about mankind. It doesn’t make sense to the psalmist. And, when we really think about it, it doesn’t make much sense to us either.
How does Someone with the ultimate in significance stoop so low as to give a thought or a care about creatures so insignificant in comparison?
We all know that, in our most honest moments, we don’t deserve even the faintest attention from the Most High. We are so far beneath Him, that He would be blameless to totally ignore us completely. We are so frail, and petty, and self-serving, and flawed – it makes no sense that the God Who is so pure and so perfect and so powerful would have any real interest in our lives… or our problems… or our thoughts. All we have to do is look into the heavens… He is SO big… and we are so small. What is man, indeed?!
But this is the wondrous mystery. The Psalmist tells us that not only is God undeterred by our insignificance… He has made us the focus of His attention and affection. We are not just an afterthought to His grand miracle of creation… we are at the center of His creative purpose.
The psalmist declares: “Yet You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…” (Ps. 8:5-6)
Human beings have immense value BECAUSE our Creator bestowed this value upon us. He crowned us “with glory and honor.” In Scripture, these are attributes almost always associated with the divine character. Because He made us “in His image” we carry the weight of His significance – by His Own choice.
Not only this but He made the whole universe and then appointed us to “have dominion” over everything. Because He rules over all, and we are “made in His likeness,” we share in the attributes of His nature – by His Own will.
Though it seems utterly unlikely, the psalmist tells us that the God Who displays His immense majesty in the glory of the heavens… is also intent on displaying His unimaginable favor to our lives. We are the objects of His loving attention and affection – simply because that is the way He wanted things to be.
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