When I look at your heavens, the work 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 8:3-4
There is a two-fold wonder in these verses which should bring us to our knees in worship of our great God.
First, there is God’s transcendence—His complete otherness. This is noted in how wondrous and voluminous God’s creation is. Take this verse practically today. Join the psalmist in beholding the grandiosity of God’s creation. Go outside on a clear night and behold the moon and the stars; realize how small you are in comparison to the expanse of space. Or rise early and marvel at the explosion of a sunset; see the Master Artist strike the sky with scarlet and crimson. God placed us here in this big world that we, with the very eyes He gave us, might see the works of His fingers and worship. This one observation is true: when we behold creation, we are awe-struck; we know we stand in the work of our great Creator. There is One who is higher, mightier, wiser, more powerful than we. Like David, we bow in worship.
But there is something greater in this verse than God’s sheer power as Creator. The second of this two-fold wonder is God’s immanence—His nearness. David strikes the chord with a question: God, with all you have created, from the spinning galaxies to the beaming moon—with the seemingly infinite expanse that makes me a speck of dust in the universe—why do you still care for me?
Oh what a glorious truth! The question is not meant to be answered. For the answer is in our response: we are meant to worship. This powerful, completely-other-than God who created everything in our eye’s sight (and everything outside it) has drawn near to you and me. David says God is “mindful” of us. This means He is aware of us and knows our every need. Jesus teaches us the same: “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:8). If God created the stars, moon and planets, holding them together with the gravity of His glory—how will he not also care for you, O child of God? There is nothing you need which He is not capable of providing, yet in His wisdom He knows how to provide in His timing. Rest in the perfect power and provision of our great God today. He is mindful of you.
But more than this: know He is near. David says God cares for you. But how is this true? How can the transcendent God draw near to such lowly creatures as ourselves? The answer is in Jesus. There is no greater proof that God cares for you than the coming of the God-man, Jesus Christ. “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9). Do you need comfort today? Jesus became like you in every way and sympathizes with your sorrow. Do you need rest today? Jesus says “come to me, all you who labor…and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). Do you need peace today? The God-man says “my peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). If you ever doubt the nearness and care of God, you need look no further than Jesus Christ. The Creator entered the world as a man to seek and save the lost. The same hands which spun galaxies like a spider are the same hands which bore a splintered cross to save us from our sins. Oh God, who am I that you care for me? His love is proven in those nail-scarred hands.
So we have these two truths hanging together just as gravity holds together the galaxies: God is way too high for us to understand, but He has also drawn so near so we know He cares. The same God who knows all things—to the very depths of our being, the hidden things we dare not uncover—loves us to the highest heavens.
So look at the moon and the stars tonight: see how little you are in comparison to creation. Yet also look at Jesus Christ: in the eyes of God you are most precious—precious enough to be bought with the spotless blood of the lamb.
Oh God, who am I that you are mindful of me?