Graduate 47: Reflection on Psalm 8

Have you ever been confronted with the wonder and glory of nature? gazed at the vast and starry heavens? been overwhelmed by the splendor of a mountain sunset? How does it make you feel?

Very often we feel uncomfortable and disconcerted. The splendor of the natural world makes us feel very small by comparison, and nobody likes feeling small or insignificant. That is why, often in those situations, we may find ourselves bolting for the nearest sign of civilization. Lock the door, turn on the lights, flip on the TV and radio, put some instant pop-corn in the microwave, and all those feelings of smallness are pushed away. (Bill Waterson captures this reaction perfectly in one of his Sunday comic strips, by the way.) Surrounded by technology, feelings safe and secure, we are comfortably insulated from the reality that lurks outside.

This is but one example of the many ways in which we exert enormous amounts of time and energy to avoid dealing with reality. We feel lonely, so we gather fake and shallow friends around us. We feel unloved, so we work and work in order to accomplish something noteworthy and earn people's respect and admiration. We feel small and insignificant, so we gather possessions and accumulate credentials to compensate. And the thought of standing alone, exposed, for all to see just as we really are, terrifies us.

But in Psalm 8, David does just that. He stands alone and stares the reality of his smallness squarely in the face, saying to God:

"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, / The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; / What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? / And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?" (vv. 3-4)

He asks the same kind of question we often ask when confronted with the expansiveness of creation. But notice where he differs from the common reaction. He does not run to his accomplishments or credentials; he does not appeal to his military record or impressive qualities in order to justify God's attention. Instead he says:

"Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God, / And dost crown him with glory and majesty! / Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, / All sheep and oxen, / And also the beasts of the field, / The birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, / Whatever passes through the paths of the seas." (vv.5-8)

When we run to our achievements in an attempt to validate ourselves, we miss out on the chance to hear what God has decreed for us. When we seek out people's approval and success according to the world's standards, we miss what God has for us. We try to win people's approval, even though God chose us even before we were created. We try to make a significant mark, even though God already deemed us worthy of the life of His Son. We try to accomplish great things, when God has already invited us to rule with Him. We become trapped in an endless cycle of trying to earn love, when He has loved us unconditionally.

We don't want to face a cosmos that is outside of our control; but when we try to control it, we miss out on the chance to learn the truth that it is not ultimately hostile to us. God, the creator, made us, and he loves us unconditionally.

And isn't that what we want--to be loved unconditionally? To be able to stand with flaws and failings and foibles fully exposed and be genuinely loved? That is what God offers, if only we will stop trying to earn or merit his grace and simply receive it.

It is telling, what David writes: "From the mouth of infants and nursing babes Thou has established strength." (v. 2a)

Children and infants have not "learned" that love must be earned. They have no accomplishments or credentials or achievements, so they simply receive love. No wonder they stand strong in God's kingdom, "Because of Thine adversaries, / To make the enemy and the revengeful cease." (v.2b) They are solid.

When our identity comes from God, it is secure. When our identity comes from ourselves, it is never secure but must be constantly maintained and guarded and refurbished. When we are no longer bound by human expectations, we are freed to become who and what we were intended to be. And the spontaneous response is praise to God; so David opens and closes Psalm 8 with these lines:

"O LORD, our Lord, / How majestic is Thy name in all the earth!" (v. 1a & 9)

[Scripture quotations from New American Standard Version, 1977.]

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I am deeply indebted to those friends and mentors and family-members who have loved me unconditionally with the love of Christ. Being as driven as I am, I am constantly needful of reminders to rest in the love that frees from burden and guilt.

I know that there are many, many people who long for this kind of love; who desire to be loved and valued for who they really are and not for their actions (good or bad) or accomplishments or external attributes. They are bound by the fear that, in failure, they will be cut off from love and relationship. They are tired of having to maintain a polished and pristine mask, of having to cover up their flaws and make themselves "presentable."

May we in the Church, the body of Christ, serve as conduits of true, freeing love and grace to one another and to all people.

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.