“What is man that You (God) take thought of him, And the son of man that You (God) care for him?” (Psalm 8:4)
In Psalm 8:1-2, David acknowledged that God is incredible and majestic. His greatness is unsurpassed. And this God had created this ever-expanding universe that runs with great precision. The more he contemplated the constellation of the planets orbiting in exactitude, the more he marvelled at the wisdom of God’s hand behind it. His thoughts then naturally gravitated toward the man whom God had made. We can detect a tint of despair when David compares man with the enormous universe. He couldn’t help but see how tiny and puny man was compared to God’s great universe. Man would have languished in despair had God not come down to our level and let us know how valuable we are in His sight. We are, in fact, the prize and crown of His creation. We are an eternal being of great value, dwelling in God’s unending universe.
From the beginning of time, God had a unique plan for us. He envisioned us and carefully crafted us. When David says that we are made a little lower than God, he echoes the first part of Genesis 1:26. This was when the Triune God deliberated and declared, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness….” Think of it: only humans are made in the image and likeness of God! Among all of God’s creations, only humans can ponder, “Who am I that God should be mindful of me?” To recognise that we are fashioned in the image and likeness of God is to accept that we are indeed given exceptional worth and honour. And our worth is most clearly seen in the fact that we are the object of God’s love. No matter what challenges life may bring, we are still God’s priceless creation whom He loves and values infinitely.
Psalm 8:6-8 echoes the latter part of Genesis 1:26, revealing the role and purpose God has assigned us. He says, “…so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground.” David, in this Psalm, reiterates this divine mandate given to man. This mandate underscores our significance in God’s sight. While God governs the universe, He has entrusted the care of the earth to us, humans, and not to any other creature. We must never forget that we are made in God’s image and ordained to rule and have dominion over His creation. This has been God’s intention from the very beginning.
Psalm 8 reveals that we are created with a purpose and have been given immense value by God. Despite our smallness compared to the vastness of the universe, God has given us the responsibility to care for His creation and rule over it. We need to remember that we are made in God’s image and likeness and that our worth is most clearly seen in the fact that He loves us and values us infinitely.
David fittingly ends by exclaiming again, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” What our great God intends for us to experience cannot be fully realised until we return to Him through Christ, for it is in Christ that the fullness of God dwells in completeness. And only in Christ are we complete. As Paul has said in Colossians 1:27, our hope of glory is found only in Christ. We must constantly build on this relationship since we are now connected to Him, our Sovereign Lord. As we do so, we will incrementally enter the fullness of all He has installed for us to experience!
Monday – Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Tuesday – Matthew 6:25-27
“For this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
Wednesday – Isaiah 43:4
Since you are precious in My sight,
Since you are honored and I love you,
I will give other men in your place and other people in exchange for your life.
Thursday – Psalm 139:14
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
Friday – Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Saturday – Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Sunday – 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
All scriptures are quoted from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).
By Pastor Clarence Goh
