"That Thou Art Mindful of Him"
Psalm 8:1-9
In some respects, I find the theme of this psalm in all kinds of movies and television shows. One of the movies in which I saw it best portrayed was in National Velvet, in which Elizabeth Taylor’s character confesses that she’s actually afraid that at some point God is going to realize that He has blessed her too much and therefore, start to withhold some of those blessings in the future. One of the television shows in which I saw this psalm so beautifully portrayed was in an episode of the series Christy. As this young woman raises questions about her feelings in regard to friendship, trust, and faithfulness, she admits, “Sometimes I wonder why God bothers with me at all. Yet I thank Him every day that He does.”
And I think that’s the point of view of David too. I like to think that he’s lying on his back, looking up at the panorama of the night sky. Perhaps he’s just harking back to the nights he spent all alone as a shepherd in the fields just north of Bethlehem. Or maybe he’s remembering those tense evenings in the Negev desert, when he had to constantly conjure up new ways to stay alive while Saul, the first king of Israel, jealously chased him in an ongoing attempt to have him killed. Whatever the case, the former shepherd boy turned king now looks up at God’s macro-skies, dark and enormous, God’s handmade sky-jewelry, the moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then he looks at his micro-self and wonders, Why do You bother with us? Why do You take a second look our way? It’s a good question.
When we look at the vast expanse of creation, we can’t help but wonder how God could be concerned for people—people who constantly disappoint Him. When we think of all God has made, we feel pretty small by comparison. To feel small is actually a healthy way to get back to reality, for to respect God’s majesty, we have to compare ourselves to His greatness. But God doesn’t want us to dwell on our smallness. Humility means proper respect for God, not self-deprecation.
And here comes the kicker! God created us only a little lower than the angels! The next time you question your worth as a person, remember that God considers you highly valuable. Each of us has great worth because we bear the stamp of our Creator. God declares over and over again how valuable we are to Him, and so we can be set free from any feelings of worthlessness we may harbor.
By this subtle depiction of an awed human spectator dwarfed beneath the immense expanse of the glittering heavens, the psalmist brings us to the point of humble self-reflection—a point toward which the psalm has been moving all along. In this studied—and extreme—contrast between the power and might and majesty of God, and of the infinitely receding significance of humans, the psalmist lays the groundwork for his central message of this particular song. For ultimately the eighth psalm is not just about divine power or even human insignificance. It is much more about divine love, divine mercy, divine grace, and divine empowerment—as well as about the resultant human responsibility.
Perhaps sometime this morning—or later on this week, weather permitting—you, too, should walk out under the heavens, look up into the night sky, and pray, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, who am I that you are mindful of me? Who am I that you care for me?” If you’ll listen closely, you might get a four-fold answer. For God’s first answer may be “Because I love you.” You’re a special person created in the image of God, created by love to love. Not necessarily that we look like Him, but that we think like Him. We have the capability to make decisions like He makes. We can hate the things He hates; we can love the things He loves. We are mirrors of God Himself because God created us in His own image—by love for the purpose of loving. Now that’s love!
God’s second answer may be, “And because I love you, I grant you my mercy.” Have you ever thought about all the bad things that you probably deserve to happen to you that don’t? Every one of us deserves a lot worse than what we get, but we don’t get walloped with it because of God’s mercy. Ultimately, we all deserve eternal death because of our sins, and yet God decided to pay that price Himself through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. He dies for us so that we might live. Now that’s mercy!
God’s third answer may be, “And because I love you, I grant you my grace.” Have you ever thought about all the good things that you don’t deserve but somehow you get them anyway? None of us deserves all the good we’ve get, but we get it anyway because of God’s grace. Ultimately none of us deserves heaven, but it’ll be given to us anyway because like Jesus—for those of us who put our trust in Him—we’ll be risen from the dead. Now that’s grace!
God’s fourth answer may be, “And because I love you, I grant you my empowerment.” God gives us tremendous authority—to be His stewards in charge of the whole earth. He’s put us in charge of His handcrafted world, made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps. To this answer He adds, “And because I grant you my empowerment, I expect you to be responsible with it.” With great authority comes great responsibility. If we own a pet, we have the legal authority to do with it as we wish, but we also have the responsibility to feed and care for it. God holds us all accountable as His stewards. He gives us love and mercy and grace and empowerment, but He wants us to give these things away in return.
But here’s a story about how not to do it! After eighteen years of marriage, a New York lawyer dumped his wife for a younger woman. The downtown luxury apartment was in his name and he wanted to remain there with his new love, so he asked the wife to move out, and he would buy her another place. The wife agreed to this arrangement, but asked that she be given three days on her own there to pack up her things.
While he was gone, the first day she lovingly put her personal belongings into boxes and crates and suitcases. On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things. On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their candlelit dining table, soft music playing in the background, and feasted on several pounds of shrimp and a bottle of Chardonnay. When she had finished, she went into each room and deposited a few of the resulting shrimp shells into the hollow of the curtain rods. She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.
The husband came back the next day with his new girlfriend, and all was bliss for the first few days. Then it started—slowly but surely. Clueless, the man couldn’t explain why the place smelled so bad. They tried everything: cleaning and mopping and airing the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents, carpets were steam cleaned, air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in, the carpets were replaced, and on it went. Finally, they could take it no more and decided to move. The moving company arrived and did a very professional packing job, taking everything to the couple’s new home—including the curtain rods!
Ah, sweet vengeance! A very human reaction! And yet God’s reaction toward us is continuing love and mercy and grace and empowerment. Though we don’t deserve it—though we haven’t earned it—God just keeps on bothering with us!
Years ago alumni and fans made UCLA football coach Pepper Rodgers’s life miserable during a season when his Bruins got off to a horrible start. Nobody would hang out with him. “My dog was my only true friend,” Rodgers said. “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends. She bought me another dog.” But Rodgers stayed the course in the face of adversity. When his players were having difficulty adapting to the wishbone offense he’d installed and the school’s alumni demanded that he adopt another system, he didn’t budge. The wishbone, Rodgers said, “is like Christianity. If you believe in it only until something goes wrong, you didn’t believe in it in the first place.” And that’s like God.
Sometimes we think that who we are or what we do doesn’t amount to much. We wonder if anyone even notices us or would miss us if we weren’t in the room. Sometimes we even wonder if God stills notices us. We feel unimportant, insignificant. How can God notice me? I’m no one special. But you are. You’ve been created in His image; you’ve been crowned with glory and honor. You are the object of His love and mercy and grace and empowerment. And so I urge you to stick with the God who keeps bothering with you!
Let us pray: Thank you, Lord, for considering us, for loving us, for Your mercy and grace and empowerment, for bothering with us at all. Continue to forgive us for our slip-ups and sins and help us always to refocus on You. And enable us to see just how important and significant we really are in Your eyes. In Jesus’ name.
Psalm 8:1-9
In some respects, I find the theme of this psalm in all kinds of movies and television shows. One of the movies in which I saw it best portrayed was in National Velvet, in which Elizabeth Taylor’s character confesses that she’s actually afraid that at some point God is going to realize that He has blessed her too much and therefore, start to withhold some of those blessings in the future. One of the television shows in which I saw this psalm so beautifully portrayed was in an episode of the series Christy. As this young woman raises questions about her feelings in regard to friendship, trust, and faithfulness, she admits, “Sometimes I wonder why God bothers with me at all. Yet I thank Him every day that He does.”
And I think that’s the point of view of David too. I like to think that he’s lying on his back, looking up at the panorama of the night sky. Perhaps he’s just harking back to the nights he spent all alone as a shepherd in the fields just north of Bethlehem. Or maybe he’s remembering those tense evenings in the Negev desert, when he had to constantly conjure up new ways to stay alive while Saul, the first king of Israel, jealously chased him in an ongoing attempt to have him killed. Whatever the case, the former shepherd boy turned king now looks up at God’s macro-skies, dark and enormous, God’s handmade sky-jewelry, the moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then he looks at his micro-self and wonders, Why do You bother with us? Why do You take a second look our way? It’s a good question.
When we look at the vast expanse of creation, we can’t help but wonder how God could be concerned for people—people who constantly disappoint Him. When we think of all God has made, we feel pretty small by comparison. To feel small is actually a healthy way to get back to reality, for to respect God’s majesty, we have to compare ourselves to His greatness. But God doesn’t want us to dwell on our smallness. Humility means proper respect for God, not self-deprecation.
And here comes the kicker! God created us only a little lower than the angels! The next time you question your worth as a person, remember that God considers you highly valuable. Each of us has great worth because we bear the stamp of our Creator. God declares over and over again how valuable we are to Him, and so we can be set free from any feelings of worthlessness we may harbor.
By this subtle depiction of an awed human spectator dwarfed beneath the immense expanse of the glittering heavens, the psalmist brings us to the point of humble self-reflection—a point toward which the psalm has been moving all along. In this studied—and extreme—contrast between the power and might and majesty of God, and of the infinitely receding significance of humans, the psalmist lays the groundwork for his central message of this particular song. For ultimately the eighth psalm is not just about divine power or even human insignificance. It is much more about divine love, divine mercy, divine grace, and divine empowerment—as well as about the resultant human responsibility.
Perhaps sometime this morning—or later on this week, weather permitting—you, too, should walk out under the heavens, look up into the night sky, and pray, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, who am I that you are mindful of me? Who am I that you care for me?” If you’ll listen closely, you might get a four-fold answer. For God’s first answer may be “Because I love you.” You’re a special person created in the image of God, created by love to love. Not necessarily that we look like Him, but that we think like Him. We have the capability to make decisions like He makes. We can hate the things He hates; we can love the things He loves. We are mirrors of God Himself because God created us in His own image—by love for the purpose of loving. Now that’s love!
God’s second answer may be, “And because I love you, I grant you my mercy.” Have you ever thought about all the bad things that you probably deserve to happen to you that don’t? Every one of us deserves a lot worse than what we get, but we don’t get walloped with it because of God’s mercy. Ultimately, we all deserve eternal death because of our sins, and yet God decided to pay that price Himself through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. He dies for us so that we might live. Now that’s mercy!
God’s third answer may be, “And because I love you, I grant you my grace.” Have you ever thought about all the good things that you don’t deserve but somehow you get them anyway? None of us deserves all the good we’ve get, but we get it anyway because of God’s grace. Ultimately none of us deserves heaven, but it’ll be given to us anyway because like Jesus—for those of us who put our trust in Him—we’ll be risen from the dead. Now that’s grace!
God’s fourth answer may be, “And because I love you, I grant you my empowerment.” God gives us tremendous authority—to be His stewards in charge of the whole earth. He’s put us in charge of His handcrafted world, made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps. To this answer He adds, “And because I grant you my empowerment, I expect you to be responsible with it.” With great authority comes great responsibility. If we own a pet, we have the legal authority to do with it as we wish, but we also have the responsibility to feed and care for it. God holds us all accountable as His stewards. He gives us love and mercy and grace and empowerment, but He wants us to give these things away in return.
But here’s a story about how not to do it! After eighteen years of marriage, a New York lawyer dumped his wife for a younger woman. The downtown luxury apartment was in his name and he wanted to remain there with his new love, so he asked the wife to move out, and he would buy her another place. The wife agreed to this arrangement, but asked that she be given three days on her own there to pack up her things.
While he was gone, the first day she lovingly put her personal belongings into boxes and crates and suitcases. On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things. On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their candlelit dining table, soft music playing in the background, and feasted on several pounds of shrimp and a bottle of Chardonnay. When she had finished, she went into each room and deposited a few of the resulting shrimp shells into the hollow of the curtain rods. She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.
The husband came back the next day with his new girlfriend, and all was bliss for the first few days. Then it started—slowly but surely. Clueless, the man couldn’t explain why the place smelled so bad. They tried everything: cleaning and mopping and airing the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents, carpets were steam cleaned, air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in, the carpets were replaced, and on it went. Finally, they could take it no more and decided to move. The moving company arrived and did a very professional packing job, taking everything to the couple’s new home—including the curtain rods!
Ah, sweet vengeance! A very human reaction! And yet God’s reaction toward us is continuing love and mercy and grace and empowerment. Though we don’t deserve it—though we haven’t earned it—God just keeps on bothering with us!
Years ago alumni and fans made UCLA football coach Pepper Rodgers’s life miserable during a season when his Bruins got off to a horrible start. Nobody would hang out with him. “My dog was my only true friend,” Rodgers said. “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends. She bought me another dog.” But Rodgers stayed the course in the face of adversity. When his players were having difficulty adapting to the wishbone offense he’d installed and the school’s alumni demanded that he adopt another system, he didn’t budge. The wishbone, Rodgers said, “is like Christianity. If you believe in it only until something goes wrong, you didn’t believe in it in the first place.” And that’s like God.
Sometimes we think that who we are or what we do doesn’t amount to much. We wonder if anyone even notices us or would miss us if we weren’t in the room. Sometimes we even wonder if God stills notices us. We feel unimportant, insignificant. How can God notice me? I’m no one special. But you are. You’ve been created in His image; you’ve been crowned with glory and honor. You are the object of His love and mercy and grace and empowerment. And so I urge you to stick with the God who keeps bothering with you!
Let us pray: Thank you, Lord, for considering us, for loving us, for Your mercy and grace and empowerment, for bothering with us at all. Continue to forgive us for our slip-ups and sins and help us always to refocus on You. And enable us to see just how important and significant we really are in Your eyes. In Jesus’ name.
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