Psalm 8 Continued…
When we come to verse 4, we arrive at the heart of this Psalm. “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalms 8:4) The word translated “man” is Hebrew for “mankind.” This question is asked three separate times in our Old Testaments.
This occurrence comes as David is in the middle of contemplating the vastness and beauty of God’s creation. The heavens are so vast and so large and mankind seems such a small thing in comparison. The sense is that humans are almost insignificant, yet the Creator gave them a special status, “a little lower than the heavenly beings” (Psalm 8:5). This causes David to marvel that God has placed such importance on humanity.
The second occurrence is in Psalm 144:3-4. Another one of David’s psalms. There he asks the question this way: O Lord, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow. (Psalms 144:3-4) In this context, this question is in the midst of a plea for help from God. David is stressing how helping man is really nothing for God compared to the shortness of man’s life.
The third occurrence is found in Job 7. “What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment? (Job 7:17-18) Here the context is that Job is asking this question in the midst of his insistence that it is not God’s love that is dispensed on him, but harassment. Why should God bother if humans are such messy creatures?
In Psalm 8, David is reflecting on humanity’s glory and honor that comes from God Himself. In Psalm 144, David is reflecting on sin’s limitation on life. And in Job 7 he is pondering what seems to him a vast gulf between the Creator and the creature.
It is interesting how we can view God based upon our circumstances. Whether we are experiencing His goodness and marveling at His majestic creation or are bargaining for help from Him or maybe even see His acts as punishment coming down on our heads, God does not change. And the fact that He even pays us an ounce of notice is more than we deserve!
What we know from Genesis to Revelation is that mankind is a creature of inestimable worth in God’s eyes. And it should cause us all to marvel. As Charles Wesley so beautifully captured: “And can it be that I should gain An int’rest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me?”
PRAY
Thank you for loving me Father! Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins!