When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? (Psalm 8:3-4)
We don’t know exactly what night it was that David stared up at the heavens and pondered these things, but it obviously made a huge impression upon him. Perhaps in his state of amazement he picked up an instrument and began to construct this psalm, probably never suspecting that millions would read his words over multiple centuries. So I would surmise that, being as impressed as he was by what he saw above his head, the One who created them impressed Him even further and gave him the words to share with the generations. If so, we should carefully consider them.
What are the thoughts we are to take away from his contemplations? As we said in the previous devotion, God left His signature in the heavens establishing beyond any doubt that there is the Creator of all. In consideration of this, David points out that the One who filled the heavens with celestial bodies — creations that have endured since the beginning of time — is also the One who has appointed man to manage His creation in spite of our frailty, mortality and fallibility.
It seems to me he is asking, why does the One who has created all pay any mind to us, especially when we stubbornly resist His sovereignty? Why does He regard us in any way, seeing that we are assigned a relatively short time to walk this planet — a planet that will still be here when we are long gone? The answer to the question is revealed, or at least hinted at, by the very things that caught David’s eye that night so long ago.
In short, all that God created was for our benefit. Everything that exists in the universe, including the heavenly bodies, is so that we can exist here on earth. Most importantly, these things exist thus allowing us to exist so that we might have opportunity to fellowship with the Almighty. In other words, in spite of our current fragile state, it was always and continues to be His desire to have an intimate relationship with man. To this end, He created the heavens and the earth, thus in effect, building a house in which we could dwell with Him.
And so, if I were to answer David’s question as to why God considers us at all it would be with this word — LOVE. Genuine love for His most beloved creation, man, is why He regards us even to this day. With that in mind, we will conclude with something we’ve heard and recited all of our lives but which continues to reveal the heart of God to mortal man: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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