Reading: Psalm 8
It is said that, one night, Napoleon was on the deck of a ship by himself thinking when one of his officers came up and began to insist on the foolishness of faith. Napoleon listened for a time and then, with a sweep of his hand, said, “Who made all that?”
It’s possible to listen to the way some people talk about the world we live in and to wonder if it’s the same world! It is the same world all right, but those who have put their trust in God see it in a different light. In the old hymn, “Loved with everlasting love”, George Wade Robinson put it this way,
Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter
green;
Something lives in every hue,
Christless eyes have
never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow,
Flowers
with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I
am His, and He is mine. (MHB443)
Eugene Cernan, one of the astronauts who enjoyed the exciting adventure of walking on the moon, said with wonder, “Our world appears big and beautiful, all blue and white! You can see from the Antarctic to the North Pole. The earth looks so perfect. There are no strings to hold it up; there is no fulcrum upon which it rests.” Contemplating the infinity of space and time, he said he felt as if he were seeing earth from God’s perspective when it was created.
The Psalms keep coming back to their major theme – the praise of God. Praise him because he is the Creator of the whole universe! Praise him because of his loving care of his people!
Psalm 8 begins with wonder at the greatness of God – “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
The God who has created everything hasn’t hidden himself. It’s true, of course, that he is Spirit. As long as we are creatures of flesh, we can’t see him with our eyes. As long as we are sinful and rebellious people, we can’t remain in his presence. Yet he has, as someone has put it, left his signature everywhere.
Paul, in the latter part of Romans 1, writes about the guilt of humankind before God. It reads as a sorry and sordid picture of the Roman Empire. Yet it has a strikingly modern ring about it too. And as we read on we realise that all of us are caught up in the problem of sin. What is the root of that problem? “…what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (Rom. 1.19-21).
When Paul says that they know God, he isn’t suggesting that they have personal faith or contact with God – simply that the evidence of God’s existence as the Creator and Lord of the earth is clearly there for all to see. The Psalmist has come to know God in personal faith and says, “O Lord, our Lord!”
“How majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Ps 8.1a) The nature of God (a name is far more than a title) – his greatness and majesty – should bring every human being to their knees in worship, but, whatever our response, God’s nature is visible in creation, whether we choose to acknowledge him or not.
“You have set your glory above the heavens” (v. 1b). God’s glory is far greater than all that we see.
“From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise” (v. 2a) – these words were used by Jesus when answering his critics on Palm Sunday. They wanted him to stop the children shouting “Hosanna!” in the Temple (Mt. 21.16). Praise is instinctive to us as human beings. It is natural to recognise God, and unnatural to live without reference to him.
“…because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger” (v. 2b). God is absolute. There are many things that happen in the course of human history. God hasn’t made us to be robots, but as responding and responsible people. Yet, in the final count, whatever people may say and do, he is absolute.
As the Psalmist gives attention to the sky, the moon and the stars – as he considers the creation – it cause him to ponder humankind.
“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 you care for him?” (vv. 3-4) “Man” refers to all of humankind – men and women, boys and girls.
God is so big and we are so small. Yet we have a privileged position in the creation. “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour” (v. 5). We are “made in the image of God” – made to respond to God, to know him, to be loved by him, to love him, to hear his will for us, to respond in glad obedience.
“You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet…” (v. 6). We also “have dominion” over the rest of creation. That was always meant to be responsible use and care – it hasn’t always been that!
Little Suzie finished her prayer and said: “Dear God, before I finish, I want you to take care of mummy, take care of daddy, take care of my sister and my brother and please, God, take care of yourself, because if you don’t we’re all sunk. Amen!”
Too often we simply focus on our dignity and achievements and forget the majesty of God. We are inclined to note with pride all our discoveries and inventions and technology – to see human greatness throughout the world! But David was amazed that God should care about us. Even when he thinks about being people appointed to rule over everything God has made, he concludes that it is God’s greatness that we see in all the world!
Comedian Bob Hope once said, “Today my heart beat 103,369 times, my blood travelled 168 million miles, I breathed 23,400 times, I inhaled 438 cubic feet of air, I ate 3 pounds of food, drank 2.9 pounds of liquid, I perspired 1.43 pints, I gave off 85.3 degrees of heat, I generated 450 tons of energy, I spoke 4,800 words, I moved 750 major muscles, my nails grew .01714 inches, and I exercised 7 million brain cells. Gee, but I’m tired!”
We are “fearfully and wonderfully made” as another Psalm puts it. And that should lead us beyond looking at ourselves in the mirror to praising our God!
God hasn’t just left us guessing about himself! The God whose glory we see has made himself known to us. He came into our human history in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. He comes into our lives in the person of his Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
Today is the Sunday after Pentecost. It’s called Trinity Sunday. God had been revealing himself and his will throughout the history of his chosen people Israel. At the right time in history he revealed himself through the coming of the Son, Jesus, to redeem us from sin. At Pentecost, he revealed himself in pouring out the Holy Spirit on all who believed in Jesus.
“O Lord, our Lord – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
© Peter J. Blackburn, Home Hill
and Ayr Uniting Churches, 6 June 2004, Trinity Sunday
Except
where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New
International Version, © International Bible Society, 1984.
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