Psalm 8
Man's Greatness by God's Grace

I. FIRST, SEE HERE THE SMALLNESS OF MAN 

1. And this shows up the arrogance of the late Carl Sagan and all his contemporary sound-alikes with his "man is god" rhetoric. When one knows the God of the Bible he has an entirely different view of things. 

2. How very small man is! This was evident to David. ("vv.1-4") We wonder if this Psalm came to him by inspiration while in his youth he was a shepherd tending sheep through the night and contemplating the greatness of God. On the clearest night he probably could see a few thousand stars. You perhaps have had this same experience -- to stand under a canopy of stars and realize how minuscule you are in the total scope of things. 

But that wonder based upon our sight of the sky on a clear evening is only an anticipation of our modern knowledge that is far more wonderful than anything David was able to know about. A few years ago I read some place that one estimate of the number of stars in the universe was well into the octillions. I'm informed that an octillion is a 1 followed by 28 zeros. It is an almost unimaginable number. And, of course, no one has any idea of how many planets and moons there are in the universe because they can't even be detected. 

And now we are squandering our money investigating a distant planet of our star and those who are promoting the investigation think that we are truly amazing and supremely wonderful because we have been able to detect the supposed evidence of water on Mars. And the people who think that this creation all came about by accidental circumstances are very excited because they think, having found water, they will be able to discover life on Mars and that will prove their theory of a creation without a creator -- that life always begins spontaneously when the circumstances permit it. 

But the Christian accepts the truth that God created all of this and he confesses in utter amazement: ("v.3-4"). 

3. How small we are! In comparison to God we are like germs are to humans. When we see and hear those who would take charge as if they were God demonstrating his ability to solve all problems; presuming to decide to kill off creatures created in the image of God in order to manage the creation efficiently and taking credit for their own accomplishments as if they were like the creative acts of deity, we recognize the voice of those who are in rebellion against the God who is the creator of all things; "for of him and to him and through him are all things: to whom be the glory forever. Amen" 

But we who know the true God, let us be filled with humility and awe that he allows us to worship him. Let us take our place as those who are infinitely small before God. Let us always humble ourselves in the presence of the Creator and Sovereign Ruler of the universe!

1. David's view was different. When he thought of such things he exclaimed ("vv3-4"). He saw it as a cause for worship. 

2. And so do we! Many agnostics have been quoted as refusing to believe that a deity over such a vast creation could even care about an individual creature. How amazed we, who know God, should be as we think of the expanse of the universe and the incredible sophistication of its apparent composition, balance and entropy. And we have even more reasons to be amazed than David did because we know so much more about it and about the nature of creation intensively. The surprising feat of mapping the genes of humans which has been in the news lately, our knowledge of how the human body works, our knowledge of insects and germs and the makeup of the earth and of the distant planets and ideas of how the universe works. Our increased knowledge is a continual call to awe at the creative hand of God. 

3. And there is good reason to admit our own smallness and dependence upon God who is the creator and sustainer of all things. And with the light of the N.T. that teaches us that the Second Person of the Godhead (who became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth) was the creative agent in the Godhead (John 1: 3; Colossians 1: 16) and even now upholds all things by the word of his power (Hebrews 1: 3) we worship our dear Lord Jesus Christ, now glorified at the right hand of the Father for his part in creation. In the Middle Ages there were objects thought to be the personal effects of Jesus that were venerated. But we -- when we behold the beauty of creation are looking at the handiwork of our dear Lord in his pre-incarnate work s the creative agent in the blessed godhead. 

How very much our sophisticated knowledge of creation ought to make us, even more than David, enthusiastic worshippers of the Triune God. Do you very often verbalize your worship of God when you are faced with the nature of created reality? Do you frequently gaze upon some aspect of the physical creation such as the midnight sky and exclaim ("v.3-4")?

1. This is paradoxical. He is, indeed, small in comparison to the infinite God and even in comparison to the physical creation but huge in the place God has given him in creation. ("v.4") God is "mindful of him" in a special way that he is not mindful of the rest of creation. 

2. God has created him a little lower than the angels. Clearly the R.S.V. translators made a bad choice here when they translated the words "a little less than God". They did so ignoring the Septuagint translation which says "a little lower than the angeloi." And the Apostle Paul who was a learned Jewish Rabbi and an inspired writer of Scripture referred to this passage as "a little lower than the angels." 

The problem goes back to Hebrew vocabulary in which this word elohim that is used here, a word that was most often used as a generic word for God -- a plural in Hebrew -- is here in this passage used for angels. It may point to the fact that the Hebrew language was not exclusively theistic and that there was a Near Eastern/Messopotamian confusion of God and angels. 

Probably David intended to say that God has made us "a little lower than the angels." We are clearly below the angels in the order of creation as to our form and our spirituality and our means of propagation even though we may be higher than they in our sophistication and seeming independence. But the point of the passage is that we are more like the angels than the rest of the physical creation. Whether or not our society knows it or admits it, there is a vast difference between human beings and the rest of the animal world and David used this uncommon vocabulary usage in order to dramatize the high estate of the angels- to which he is comparing us. 

And the way in which we are almost like angels is that, first, we are crowned with glory and honor... perhaps seen in the way in which the animal creation respects us and usually fears us. 

Second, we have dominion over creation -- we force the beasts to work for us and to please us and use them for food. But also we are commissioned with the responsibility to rule over the inanimate creation. We cultivate and develop strains of plants for our food. Here also is a reference to our using petroleum and water and various natural resources to make a sophisticated civilization as we have done in modern times. ("v.6") 

Thirdly, going back to v.4 again, we have the ability to relate to God -- ("v.4"). He treats mankind as partners, his agents in ruling the world and, in the case of those who are redeemed by God, those who willingly act as his agents in the physical/natural realm and in the spiritual realm. 

Has it occurred to you that your are working out this "little lower than the angels" quality when you show a love of beauty in your involvement in art, architecture, music, and literature -- at least the strains of these arts that are uplifting and worthy of creatures who are "a little lower than the angels?" Has it occurred to you that you are being crowned with glory and honor? Do you realize that the last time you were used by God in someone else's life that you were invested with this glory and honor in being an agent of Almighty God? Or has it occurred to you that the place of service you have found in his kingdom, be it preaching, teaching, leading or serving in a mundane role of service, that you are his agent in much the same way that the angels are? 

This was seen by some of the puritans and the reformers in a new way that transformed their understanding of the duties of life. Secular duties can be carried out by the Christian, consciously dedicated to God and can become ennobling rather than burdensome as they often are in many persons' lives. 

How wonderful that we are given this high estate that lifts us up -- high above -- the rest of the physical creation and we are like the angels of God who serve him and worship him day and night. 

These three things, then, portray the unique view of God and man in the Christian revelation. The smallness of man; the inexpressible greatness of the true God; the greatness of man when he is seen in relationship to the God whom he serves. 

("vv.1-9")