David apparently visited the Total Perspective Vortex.
When I look at 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, and the son of man that You care for him? (Psa 8:3-4)The Psalm begins "YHWH, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens" (Psa 8:1). That is, the heavens declare the glory of God. Wait ... I've heard that somewhere (Psa 19:1) And in the vastness and expanse and complexity and simplicity of Creation, we find ourselves, tiny, miniscule, apparently nothing much at all. And we say, "Look at me! I'm pretty important." And creation laughs.
Paul warned that we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment" (Rom 12:3). We do it every day. We think we're big and important and demand our rights. Maybe among humans we might be, but in the grand scheme of God, we must ask, "What is man that You are mindful of him?" And we ought to fall on our faces and worship, thanking Him that He does think of us. You know, as opposed to the shaking of fists in His direction because He didn't do or be what we wanted.
3 comments:
These kinds of feelings are why people have come with ways to "improve" our status by saying that we are all made of stardust to show that we made be small, but we're part of the bigger universe in some tangible way. But when they argue for human dignity, they have to rob from the Christian worldview to make us any more significant than animals. We try to do everything we can to avoid the true answer of the holiness of God and His authority.
I am mindful that while I might be considered an important person within my immediate circle of influence and perhaps even somewhat valuable within a slightly larger sphere, I am virtually insignificant in the big picture. (The farther away I move from myself in the center, the less significance I hold.) James 4:14 says, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” In the “total perspective” of God’s plan and purpose and of His vast creation, I don’t amount to a hill of beans (as the saying goes). Yet…even while I hold such little value, God chose to befriend and redeem me. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Indeed, I thank God that in the grand scheme, “He does think of [me],” as you say.
I think this is why some use the "made a little lower than the angels" text to demonstrate that we are more important that we really are.
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