Majestic

                                                                     Lord, our Lord,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8)

 

          I love this psalm, but I suspect I love it for all the wrong reasons. I enjoy stargazing, and admittedly don’t do enough of it. But when I consider God’s heavens, it’s often a consideration of them more than of Him. With David, I ask “what is mankind that [He] is mindful of [us]?” but with the misanthropism that seems epidemic in our world, I don’t follow up with praise because God has made us a little lower than angels but rulers over the works of His hands. It’s closer to “Yeah, God, because we are a “piece of work.”

          Whether you face those struggles or not, I’m going to issue two challenges for us for the week. The first is to read this psalm aloud, putting the dramatic emphases where they belong. Read if like you mean it! The second is to spend at least 5 minutes, at least twice this week contemplating the wonder of the natural world and thanking God for it. If you want to go for “extra credit” learn something about how nature and how God created it. I’ll help you with that one if you haven’t already done it. The Pink Moon is on April 12^th. It is called that because it’s April is when some phlox known as moss pinks bloom.

          The moon is getting farther from Earth, but it is just the right size and just far enough from both the earth and the sun that scientists were able to use observations made during an eclipse to learn about the sun. And scientists were at the point where they could benefit from what they saw. The earth is located on the edge (comparatively) of one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way, which allows us to see more of the universe than we could packed in among the stars in the arm or core, and we are protected from the harmful effects we might face if the stars were closer. You can read more about some of these things in The Privileged Planet by Guillermo Gonzales and Jay Richards.

          God didn’t just give us a rather amazing world. He created the universe and put us in a spot that allows us to see it.