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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Psalm 8:3-4—"What is Man That You Are Mindful of Him?"

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?" (Psalm 8:3-4 NKJV)

Here we have one of the toughest questions in life to answer, what is man?  Then the follow-up, that you, God, are mindful of him.  There was a time when you and I did not exist.  Birth is like a person who has been in a deep dreamless sleep and suddenly he is awakened.  We are thrust into the world; we have no choice in the matter.  How did we get here?  Why are we here?  What is it we are supposed to do or be?  All is a mystery but at that early stage of life, at birth, we are spared from having to think of such things.

We enter the world naked, helpless, in poverty, having no knowledge or understanding, and unless someone has pity upon us and shows us mercy and gives us care and assistance we cannot live but briefly.  Someone must care for us. 

Man comes into the world a frail creature made of flesh and blood and in a body that is destined for only a limited number of years of life on earth at best.  “The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10 NKJV)   Man can no more prevent his death than he could have prevented his birth.  This is the story of human life but the question remains, what is it all about; what is life about? 

God made man out of dust (Gen. 2:7).  In speaking to Adam, after the fall, God says to him, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (Gen 3:19 NKJV)  David, the Psalmist, says, "For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:14 NKJV)

Yet, God gave to man a spirit, not just a body.  "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness."  (Gen. 1:26 NKJV)  "So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him." (Gen 1:27 NKJV)  Jesus said, "God is Spirit." (John 4:24 NKJV)  So man has a spirit in the image of God, or like God, but enclosed in a frame of dust.    

In the Psalm at hand, Psalm 8:3-4, David the Psalmist in thinking about man and his frailty could look up into the heavens and stand amazed, awestruck, at what his eyes beheld.  Comparatively few people living in America today live in an area where they can get a clear view of the heavens on a cloudless, moonless, night.  City lights, smog, and just the atmosphere itself obscures what is in the heavens to be seen but when you do get a chance to see the sky on a perfectly clear night it leaves you speechless.  What do you say when you look up and see millions to billions of stars?

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.  Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.   There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.  Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." (Psalm 19:1-4 NKJV)

What you see is what God meant for you to see—the glory of God declared.  The New American Standard Bible (1977) starts Psalm 19 verse 1 as follows:  "The heavens are telling of the glory of God."

On a perfectly clear night when you look up into the night sky how many stars do you see?  Here is a report from a website called ESA Space Science:

"Stars are not scattered randomly through space, they are gathered together into vast groups known as galaxies. The Sun belongs to a galaxy called the Milky Way. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies also!"

From a site called wiki.answers.com I got this answer when looking for the number of stars that exist:

"The newest estimates gained by the Hubble space telescope places the estimate of 500 billion Galaxies each with about 300 billion stars for each galaxy."

And yet the Psalmist said of God, their creator, "He counts the number of the stars; he calls them all by name." (Psalm 147:4 NKJV)

David could look up into the night sky and see the stars so vast in number as to overwhelm the mind.  It is more than the human mind can take in and comprehend and we are left awe-struck.  Figuratively speaking it brought David to his knees by its magnificence and the glory and might it portrayed—the glory and might of God.  What was, what is, man to such a God?  God is God Almighty truly and beyond doubt!

Have the heavens man can see failed in telling the story of the glory of God?  No!  "For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20 NKJV)

Paul by inspiration in this passage teaches that man knows there is a God which does not mean, however, that he is willing to admit it or accept it.  There are reasons for not accepting the fact that your child is causing problems in school, or that your spouse is cheating on you, or that your smoking may well lead to cancer, or a hundred other things.  Likewise, there are many reasons people have for not wanting to believe in God and thus not allowing themselves to do so despite clear evidence of his existence.  There is enough evidence that God has shown to man to prove his existence that God said, "They are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20 NKJV)

So what is a man to such an astounding God?  Human reasoning might well conclude that to such a mighty God we would be nothing, no more than the equivalent of a mite on a leaf, but that is not God's view of the matter.  Man is the object of God's love.  This was the thing David was puzzling over.  How can such a great and mighty God care about something as lowly as a man?  It is a thing we may never understand but we must come to believe and accept it and what a wonderful thing it is whether it is understood or not.

God's love for his creation was such that even before creation he determined that man would have eternal life.  "In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." (Titus 1:2 NKJV)  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." (Eph. 1:3-4 NKJV)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 NKJV)  It is true that eternal life, in the sense of awareness, can be found both in heaven and hell but, "The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)  God wants us with him in heaven where "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (Rev. 21:4 NKJV) 

In John 17 Jesus prays.  He starts out praying, so it seems, for the apostles but then he says in verse 20, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." (John 17:20 NKJV)  Jesus goes on in prayer, "Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world." (John 17:24 NKJV)  God's desire is that all men be with him in heaven and live there with him throughout eternity.  God "desires all men to be saved." (1 Tim. 2:4 NKJV)

Jesus was sent into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world (John 12:47).  Jesus is off now preparing a place for God's faithful children (John 14:2-3).  What we learn from all of this is that God created man, God loves man, and God's intent or desire is that all men be saved and join with him in heaven for eternity.  Who can understand or explain the love of God for man? 

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39 NKJV)

Man was made to love and be loved by God, created a spiritual being in a body of flesh with the plan being to transform at the proper time into a heavenly body.  "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man." (1 Cor. 15:49 NKJV)

That is the future that God has decreed for those of his human creation who choose of their own free will to follow God and obey his commands by faith.  Not only did God create us but he has also told us why.  There are certain things he wants out of us.  This may not be an exhaustive list but it comes close to being a good summary.

God wants man's love.  "'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment." (Mark 12:30 NKJV)

God also wants man to love his fellow man.  "'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Mark 12: 31 NKJV)

This love God desires of man demands obedience to God.  "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15 NKJV)  "'He who does not love me does not keep my words.'" (John 14:24 NKJV)

God wants man to have faith in him.  "But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." (Heb. 11:6 NKJV)

God desires man's worship.  "'But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth; for the father is seeking such to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.'" (John 4:23-24 NKJV)  Note the phrase "the father is seeking such to worship him" thus God desires that of man.  "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve.'" (Matt. 4:10 NKJV) 

God desires that man glorify him in both body and spirit.  "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:20 NKJV)  The great sin of the Gentiles that Paul talks about in Romans 1 was that "although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful." (Rom. 1:21 NKJV)

To glorify God demands that man treat God as God which means, among other things, reverence, thanksgiving, and giving praise to his name.  It demands a holy and reverent life of faithful obedience from a humble and a thankful heart.  It has to be from the heart.  It must be that my heart drives me to it.

Perhaps we could add to this list but I think for the most part everything that God desires of us could be put in one or the other of the above categories I have listed.  God wants our love, our faith, our obedience, our worship, and our reverence or respect.  He wants to be treated like God and honored as such.

What is man that God is mindful of him?  Man is the creation of God's love and because of that love, God is mindful of him.  If God has loved us so much should we not reciprocate that love?  Does not our heart drive us to do so?  I hope we never harden our hearts against the love of God for that would be cruelty against one who cares for us.  In reference to God’s children the scripture declares “he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NKJV)  “He himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Heb. 13:5 NKJV)  God is not willing that any perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  Who could be so cruel as to harden his heart against such a God, our God?

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