Our home is situated in an area with not much artificial light at night. My wife and I enjoy sitting on our porch and looking up at the heavens. On a clear night the Milky Way is striking and after a few minutes of viewing the skies, it isn’t uncommon for a meteor or two to streak by.
After taking in this awesome sight of billions of stars, I often feel small. I think that is why David penned the following words in Psalm 8 when he was stargazing on sheep covered hills as a teen; “When I consider your heavens…what is man that you are mindful of him?”
Of course I omitted a very important part of the Psalm and I think it is just ignoring this missing part that can often lead us to feelings of inadequacy, inferiority and a host of other problems in which Satan can gain a victory over us. I’ve included that missing part in italics with bold for emphasis: “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, the son of man that care him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands and put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field.”
Next time that you look up and then look down and feel small, be encouraged. God created the stars and heavenly bodies on Day 4. According to David, that is merely finger-paint for God. He saved the best for last. On Day 6, He created you and me! That’s right, we are made in God’s image and He gave us dominion over the rest of creation. You and I are God’s masterpiece!
We are so important to God that even when sin broke up the relationship between us and our Creator, He willingly sacrificed His Son Jesus as an offer to restore the break. Can you imagine? The God that set the stars in the sky loves you so much that He offered up His Son?
God’s offer to restore the relationship is still there. Have you taken Him up on the offer? You must simply understand that you are a sinner (Romans 3:23). Next you must acknowledge that Jesus Christ has taken the penalty for your sin (1 Corinthians 5:21). Finally, you must make it personal and trust in Christ’s payment for your sin (John 3:16). It is that simple and yet it is that profound.
It is this very story that makes David exclaim the following when he starts and ends Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
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