Psalm 8:3-4

The following is a Bible study posted on our Bible Study Group.

Happy, Thursday!

I want to tell you all that I have a new toy!  At my Dad's advice, I downloaded the Online Bible, and I'm having a lot of fun learning how to use it!  It was very helpful for me as I prepared for today's Bible study.

Today we're going to look at Psalm 8:3-4:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
      the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
      and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

(Note:  While I'm writing this, I'm listening to http://rosemck1.tripod.com/hgta.html because it seems to fit perfectly with what we're going to study.)

Do you remember what we talked about last week, how one night I sat under the stars with my husband and it helped put all of life back into perspective?  Today I want to talk about three things that utterly amaze me when I begin to consider God's creation.

1.  That He Created Me

"When I consider thy heavens," the Psalmist wrote, "What is man?"  When we begin to learn about God's creative majesty, we start to feel small!  Educator Charlotte Mason wrote that teachers should take their students out into nature every day so that they can study God's creation and develop an appreciation of all He has done for us.

Indeed, as I sit here at my desk and look out at the blue sky, I see puffy clouds floating by.  Because I've been up in an airplane, I know the massive size of those clouds.  My school days taught me about the water cycle and how God miraculously preserves water for us to drink and for green things to grow.  And yet, in all His creative wonder, He allows our children to see bunny rabbits and choo-choo trains and frogs when they lie on their backs and look at the clouds. 

Beyond those clouds are stars.  The sun is bright, so I can't see them, yet I know they are there.  Not only are they there, and in an infinite number, but my God knows each one's name and all about its composition.  My son likes to dream of space travel, yet I'm forever amazed that even if we had the capabilities to travel to other galaxies, there would be yet more galaxies beyond to explore!  There is no end to the wonder of our universe.

And then there is that moon, so bright sometimes that it also blocks our view of the stars.  Three of my four children were born on a full-moon, and I remember being in labor yet looking at the bright moon in the sky and being comforted that the same God who crafted it would "never leave me nor forsake me."

So I have to wonder why God created me?  Surely there are more interesting things in this world!  The universe is so large that we can feel insignificant, yet the vastness of God's majesty is an ever-present reminder of just how much He loves us!

2.  That He Thinks of Me

Like the Psalmist, I have to wonder, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"  In fact, it is beyond my comprehension that God even CAN be mindful of me.  How can He hold the worlds in space, keep all the atoms and molecules perfectly aligned, and still have time left over to think about me?  It makes my trivial worries seem even more trivial.

Yet my worries are not trivial to God.  In fact, Job said, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?" (Job 7:17).  He has set His heart upon me, and He loves me. David prayed, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it" (Psalm 139:6).

3.  That He Visited Me

John 3:16-17, so familiar to all of us, says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." The highest expression of God's love for me was that He became a human, just like me. 

Paul wrote that Jesus, "Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:6-8).

Why did my Sovereign God die for me?  Why was "His sacred head" wounded? Was it because I am so wonderful?  No, it was because God's love is so wonderful.  In fact, songwriter Isaac Watts wrote this:  (see http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/l/alasand.htm)

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine—
And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood.

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.

How should we respond to God's "amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree"?  I believe the first step is to realize how much He loves us and how much we can trust Him.  Charles Hadden Spurgeon is famous for saying, "God is too good to be unkind, God is too wise to be mistaken. When you cannot trace His hand, you can always trust His heart."

Secondly, as Isaac Watts wrote, we need to dissolve our hearts in thankfulness and melt our eyes to tears.  If you have a view of the sky where you live, I would like to recommend that you take a night this week to go outside with your Bible and a flashlight.  Gaze at the stars, then read passages like Genesis 1 through 3, followed by the story of Jesus' crucifixion in John 19 and 20.  Then pour out your heart to Him in thankfulness at the great love with which He loves you.

Finally, the obvious conclusion we all must come to is, "Here, Lord, I give my self away; 'Tis all that I can do."  We have but one short life in which to bring glory to our God.  Whom of you told of Jesus Christ today?  Who can see Jesus in you?

Recommended Reading:
- In the Grip of Grace, by Max Lucado

- The Vanishing Ministry in the 21st Century, by Woodrow Kroll

I'd love to hear if any of you actually go outside this week!  Write and tell me about it, and I'll share it with the group!  :-)


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Next - Psalm 8:5-9 

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