Psalm 8 – The LORD Has Been Mindful of Me – #6

As has been seen from the previous articles in this series, man has a great and exalted position in this world. But if we are not careful, we can get an over inflated view of humankind-like Protagoras (490-420 B.C) [see picture in thi post] who said “Man is the measure of all things.” This is the view of secular humanism which is so popular today. Those that have this concept might rewrite Psalm 8 in the following way:

“O man, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens. . . . When I consider thy inventions, the work of thy fingers, the medical breakthroughs and technological advances which thou hast made, what is God that I should be mindful of him, or the Son of God that I should reverence him?”

Psalm 8 is not a psalm of the praise of man; rather, it is a hymn of praise to God (in fact, it is the hymn of praise in the Book of Psalms). It begins and ends with praise to the LORD (Psalm 8:1; Psalm 8:9). The dignity of mankind is one great reason to offer this praise. The only reason that we have the position we do in this world is because of God.

In fact, this Psalm demonstrates to us that “Who we are” has a lot to do with “Who God is.” The secular humanist that denies and devalues God also devalues mankind. When I have an exalted view of God and praise Him as such, I will have a better view of myself and of others. Let us therefore highly exalt and glorify Him in whose image we are made!

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Filed under: Devotional, Michael Carter on August 4th, 2008