Psalm 8:3-4 - When I look at 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?
The greatness of God, so obvious to anyone with eyes to see, reminded the psalmist of the comparative insignificance of man. The Bible does not overrate man, nor does it underrate him. According to Scripture, man is not an accident. In spite of everything you might think, you are not here by chance. To God you are not an incidental side issue, even in this vast universe. You are a man or a woman, a boy or a girl—and you are important to God.
Look about you and what do you see? Sadly, there's a whole world of people trying to live as if there were no God, without any recognition of God and certainly no dependence upon Him. There are people who think it is beneath them—somehow an insult to their intelligence—to talk about God or to have faith in Him.
But when we look at Jesus, we begin to understand what the psalmist is saying. We see how mindful, in fact, God truly is of man. By His own design, and in fulfillment of His own purpose, God sent His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, to be a real Man among us. God made Him a little lower than the angels to live His human life just for us (see Hebrews 2:7). Living unto God, Jesus did for us what we could not: save us from our sins.
Look about you and see the glory of God. Lift up your eyes and behold the Lord of the universe in the world He has created. Lift up your eyes to a hill from our own history, and know, positively, that God cares. Look at the Man dying there, I mean really dying, and be sure that God is talking to you through that Man.
Look at Jesus Christ, and you begin to understand what all of this really means: "When I look at 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?" Yes, God is indeed mindful of you and me. So much so that in Jesus Christ, the living God suffered and died for the sins of us all. He died to make things right. He died that you might be forgiven. He died and then He rose again in victory over death.
The Father invites you to trust in His Son. You can trust Him because He cares for you. He wants you, just as you, are to be renewed—restored by His redeeming power that comes to every person who trusts in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for being mindful of us in the sending of Your Son. In His Name we pray. Amen.
From "The Universe Declares the Glory of God," a sermon excerpt from Rev. Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour
Reflection Questions:
1. What's your view of human capability? What do you think is possible for us to achieve?
2. What does it mean to you that Scripture says the heavens are the work of God's hands?
3. What fact about the universe makes you feel really small?
Today's Bible Readings: Proverbs 5-7 John 20
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