Psalm 8
1O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
5Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Do you ever wonder what our place in creation is? Where do we fit in the natural order? We are only mortals, made a little lower than God. Not too shabby, if you ask me. Not only do we get a place in glory, but we have dominion over God's works. It's like owning an original Picasso, given to you by the artist himself. Passed down from generation to generation. Or a Stradivarius. An instrument so perfect, so precise, that it's value far exceeds anything that we could imagine. And we are made stewards, caretakers, masters even over all this work. What an honor. What a responsibility.
Yet, even with the charge we have been given in the work of God's hands, this is not to make us bigger, better, or more important than we are. As I pray this Psalm, I find comfort not in the special role we play in creation, but in the fact that out of the mouths of babes and infants, God will silence the enemy and avenger. It is not the great works of an older, wiser generation. It is through the mystery of creation of human life that we find ourselves awed and inspired by God. Let us take comfort in our role as stewards of God's creation. However, let us never forget that even though God will choose to work through us, it is in the lowly places where God shows up.
Pray Psalm 8 with grateful humility.
G. Thomas Martin
