A short address to Campus Crusade students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
By James Pruch
April 19, 2007
Psalm 8:3-5
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you take thought of Him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than God, and you crown him with glory and majesty!
I hope this talk tonight is encouraging to every one of you. It’s sort of an exhortation since I am older than most here and I just want to share some things God has been teaching me through his Word. Let these things pry at your heart and may you realize how awesome God is.
Have you ever looked at the stars, the moon, the clouds, and been just completely in awe of God? And at the same time, you realize how insignificant and helpless we really are in this massive universe? I had an experience like this last weekend outside of Boulder, CO with a few guys.
We stood around a lake, gazing into the stars and reveling in God’s creation. The lake was surrounded by a bowl of trees all around us and we could see the entire sky. We were surrounded by God’s glory. There was no moon that night, so the stars were exceptionally bright. One star in particular, if I didn’t know better, I’d say was the star the Magi followed to find the baby Jesus. It was such a surreal evening-four guys seeing God’s glory, singing hymns and praise songs, worshiping God, and enjoying each other. It was awesome.
One thing God has continually taught me throughout four years is that I’m really not as great as I think I am. This verse really hammers that home. I joked around with a few people this week about the moon. The moon is so amazing and every night you might hear someone say, “Wow! Look at the moon, isn’t it gorgeous? It’s so brilliant!” That same person might have said the same thing last night, but it really doesn’t matter, does it? The moon is full of splendor and mystery and beauty. It is truly astonishing. That moon, however, will still be there tomorrow night, yet it still amazes everyone. It’s not going to go away.
David also mentions the stars in this verse. There’s a Switchfoot song called, “Stars” that I have absolutely loved since I heard it. Jon Foreman starts out singing: “Maybe I’ve been the problem, maybe I’m the one to blame”. He goes on to sing about entropy and pain and how the world is fading, and maybe his sin is the reason for it. But there is hope when he gets to the chorus, as it says, “When I look at the stars, when I look at the stars, I feel like myself.” Isn’t it true that when you gaze into God’s creation, you realize how insignificant your problems are? You realize how small we are in the vast scheme of things. It’s God’s reminder that we aren’t the center of universe and we are but a part of what is going on here.
Psalm 144:4 says, “Man is like a mere breath; his days are like a passing shadow.” The four years I’ve been here have flown by. It feels like just yesterday I moved into the dorms. We are so small. Our perspective is so limited. We are like a mere breath, the writer says. Imagine how many breaths you take in a day, not to mention your entire life! They are fleeting; even the largest, deepest breath fades quickly. So is our life as humans. We are a small, nearly invisible dot on the line of eternity.
So, back to Psalm 8. David asks a rhetorical question. He practically says, “What is man that you take thought of him and care for him? Feed him? Clothe him? Love him? Forgive him?” Don’t we find ourselves asking the same questions sometimes? God, why did you do all these things? Why do you love me so much God?
In the past few weeks, God has laid this verse on my heart. It is Psalm 50:12. God is speaking in this verse: “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all it contains.” That seems really strong and arrogant of God to say, doesn’t it! But the Word here was speaking to me, saying, “This is how big God is and how small you are!” God doesn’t need anything from us, and if he did, he wouldn’t even tell us because we are incapable of giving anything to him. “Who has given to God that he should be repaid?” the Scriptures say. I came to a point sometime this semester when I realized that I really couldn’t give anything to God. God doesn’t need anything, but he wants our hearts, our minds, and our bodies.
God created all of the celestial bodies that so awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping. He loves those, because he created them. Just like an inventor loves his invention. God loves everything he created-down to the smallest insect. However, there is a difference in how God loves his stars and moon and clouds and how God loves his people, especially his children.
In verse 5, David writes, “Yet you have made him a little lower than God, and you crown him with glory and majesty!” I don’t think David just sat there and took this lightly, yawning as he penned this phrase. I’m sure David was pumped. He was probably saying, “Oh, God, you are stinkin’ awesome. How much do you love me? Oh, man, you love me so much you crown me, a sinful wretch, with glory and majesty!”
I’m sure there are a few of you still saying, “I can’t believe this. How? Why?” Well, David wrote Psalm 21 and that sheds light on Psalm 8. Verses 4 and 5 say, “He asked life of you, you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever. His glory is great through your salvation, splendor and majesty you place upon him.” Look at what is our crown jewel, our glory, our majesty. It’s the salvation God brings. It’s the saving love and grace that God gives when he embraces us and we lavish that love. Look at this verse in a very personal way. It hit my heart’s core when I wrote it like this last night: “James asked life of God; God gave it to James, length of days forever and ever. James’ glory is great through God’s salvation, splendor and majesty God placed upon James.” That is so precious, isn’t it?
Let’s tie this all together. We see that in the scope of creation and God’s beauty in this world, we are insignificant pieces of creation. We are but a breath. We are incapable of giving anything to God. Why? Because all we bring to the table is our sin. And God hates sin. He rejects it. He cannot be near it; cannot tolerate it; cannot accept it. We are full of it. But God bypasses that, through his Son, Jesus.
“What is man that you even take a tiny thought of him?” Everyone in this room is God’s finest piece of artwork. He fashioned you so beautifully and wonderfully. Those stars and the moon, the clouds, the lightning, and the sun-those are all breath-taking things. But your Father in heaven loses more breaths over you than he does over any of those things.
One last thing. Psalm 148 and Psalm 98 talk about the sun, moon, and stars praising God. These bodies will never cease to give praise to God. Think about that. They do exactly what God commands all of the time. Every action that comes from these things, glorifies God. On the contrary, not all actions by humans glorify God. We do not always do what he commands us to, do we? That makes this love for us-this crowning of glory and majesty-much, much sweeter. Let this be my encouragement to you. Know your place before the Almighty God. Know that we are so undeserving and so insignificant in the eyes of creation. Know that God has made us less majestic than the stars and lower than the angels. But God cares for us and thinks about us more than anything he has ever created. He has given us a crown of glory and majesty through his Son, Jesus Christ and his salvation is what raises us up to be more than sinners. Let that comfort you.
I will leave you with a passage about how righteous and powerful God is. If you’ve never read this, I’m sorry! It is purely beautiful description of God. This is from Job 26:7-14.
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces. By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent. And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint a whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?
