You made him little less than God
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet. (Psalm 8:5-6)
When you read this Psalm, envision King David (we don’t know if he was king yet) lying in a field and looking up at the vastness of the night sky. He responds to the incredible beauty by praising the Creator. He then considers how insignificant he is, compared to God, yet God has such a high value for humans, that has entrusted his creation to people. David thinks of all the amazing animals God created. David’s only appropriate response is to praise God.
What can we learn about prayer from this psalm?
1. To praise God. This psalm is all about God. It is bookended with God’s magnificence; God is mentioned in nearly every verse.
2. To honor man. God created people with tremendous capacity to rule over his creation. We have done some of this very well. We have provided food, clothing, and shelter for billions of people. We have excelled in the arts, in architecture, in technology. However, in many ways we have failed and our world is a mess and out of control.
3. To appreciate Jesus. The writer of Hebrews clarifies that verses 5-6 have a dual meaning. They refer to people, but they also refer to Jesus. For God sent another man to fix the mess that humanity created; that man was his own son, Jesus.
The next time that you observe the beauty of creation (which is probably very soon, as Hawaii is so beautiful) remember David’s response in this Psalm. First, praise God for his wonderful creation. Marvel that God has such a high value for man that he made man the trustee and beneficiary of his creation. Next, mourn over the fallenness of the creation, that people have not done a good job caring for what God made. Homelessness, drugs, trash, erosion – all remind us that this wasn’t God’s intent. Finally, praise God that he came through when we failed by providing Jesus.
Rather than being in distress because of our broken world, we can have confidence in God’s plan for a new creation. In the second to last verse of the Bible, Jesus says, “Yes, I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:20). Pray “come, Lord Jesus, come.”