O Lord, Our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
You have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the works of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Psalm 8:1-4
I love this Psalm. It has been one of my favorites from the early days of my faith. I looked it up when I was reading Hebrews 2 the night I became a believer. It resonated with me then and it resonates with me now.
I reminds me of a night somewhere in the early 1980's when I was at a party in some gravel pits in Northern California. I had climbed to the top of a huge pile of gravel and was standing far above the party below. I don't know why I climbed up there. No purpose. But I remember looking up and being overwhelmed. I stood there, beer in hand, looking up at the stars, and I had a deep sense of overwhelming Beauty. I capitalize the word Beauty because it wasn't an abstract observation on my part, like, "Oh, look at the stars, they are beautiful." It was more like a person invading my awareness saying, "Look at the beauty. Take it in. Because you long to take it in and it longs to take you in."
It was unsettling enough that I still remember it over 30 years later. I didn't understand it, but it was a moment where I, like David, was overwhelmed with the vast power and beauty all around me and my incredible smallness in comparison.
When we get a glimpse of how small and insignificant we are, it is the only logical question: What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Why would God, the measure of all this great and powerful and truly glorious and beautiful, bother thinking about us? Little mud men and women, living short lives that accomplish so little? Little ants that run around pretending they are gods? I mean, really, what the heck? Why would God care about us?
I know the theological answer: God created us in his image and he is jealous for his glory in his creation. He wants his image redeemed that we might live to the praise of his glory.
But I think there is another answer here. "Out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength."
God loves irony.
He could simply flex his pinky and swipe away all of his foes - the enemies of God's glory and the avenger bent on robbing God of his glory. With less than a thought he could unmake all he has made. Instead, though, he demonstrates his power by giving his glory to the inglorious and manifesting his strength where there should be none. He loves us because not because we are glorious and incredibly beautiful - but because we are so weak, so foolish, so limited.
God's strength receives glory by flexing its might in the weakest of muscles. It's like God looks at Satan, the most powerful and glorious of his angelic creatures (who also rebelled against him) and says, "Really, you think you can rob me of my glory? Really? You see that little thinking mud pie over there? He is mine. I love him. I care for him. I think of him. And because I do, he is more glorious than you in all your rebellious beauty. He is stronger than all your incredible might. I don't need to defeat you - he will. I will. In him and through him. And he will be the trophy of my glory. He will be the trophy of my grace."
Prayer:
Lord, I am so thankful that you love to show your strength through weakness. There would be no hope for me otherwise. I bring to you all I have - weakness - and when I am the weakest, you show me your strength. Thank you for your patience with me when I think I am strong - when I try to do for you what you are waiting to do in me. You wait. You smile. You love - and when I find the end of myself (and I discover humility) you act, and I am amazed. Thank you for loving me, a mud man created in your image and for your glory.
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