“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
Psalm 8:3–4 has a great couple of verses in the middle of this chapter that’s talking about God’s majesty in creation, how he’s set his glory above the heavens, and yet amidst all the work of his fingers, the moon, the stars … That’ll change the way you look at the sky at night. You look at the moon and the stars and you think, “That’s the work of the fingers of God.” His majesty everywhere in all creation, how he’s put those stars, the moon, the sun in place, how he set mountains where they are, hills he has formed, oceans he’s poured out that water. He’s the one who stops it at the coastline, keeps it from going any further.
The God over all creation has made you as one who reflects Him more so than anything else in creation.
This Verse Reminds Us That We Were Made In His Image
God’s majesty seen in all of creation, and then you look at man and you realize, and this is Genesis 1, God’s prized creation is you and me, people. Unlike anything else in all creation, we are made in the image of God. Just think that, like right where you’re sitting, or standing, or walking, or driving right now. Like you are made in the image of God, grander and more majestic than the stars and the moon, than the mountains and the hills and the oceans. You are more majestic than any of those. The psalmist is just saying, “What is man that you are mindful of him that way, the son of man that you care for him, the way you create us, the way you love us, the way we are your prized creation?”
Be awed by this. Be awed by the fact that the God over all creation amidst everything else in all creation has created you as one who resembles and represents and reflects him more so than anything else, more so than the Grand Canyon, more so than the Himalayan heights, more so than the most beautiful beaches you could imagine, the most majestic scenery you could picture. You are created in God’s image. You have a beauty. and you possess a dignity and an honor that nothing else in creation has. Be affirmed today.
Psalm 8:3–4 Praises God for Creating Us In His Image
God, I praise you for crafting and creating me. We praise you for crafting and creating each one of us as individuals in your image. What an honor, privilege. That doesn’t even seem to summarize the depth of what we should say. What is man that you are mindful of us, you care for us, in this whole big picture of creation? God, I pray that you would keep us from looking to anything else in this world for our dignity, from looking to anything, anyone else in this world to define our beauty. God, we pray for a deliverance from always looking to what others think of us, always being concerned about how others perceive us, even letting others define us. Lord, you define us. Your perception of us is supreme.
We praise you as creatures made in your image, as dignified, distinguished, beautiful, honorable men, women, kids. We look to you right now and we thank you for being mindful of us. So we thank you for making us your prized creation over and above everything else in this world. We pray today, oh God, help us then to resemble you well. Help us to represent you well. Help us to walk in relationship with you as creatures in your image. Then, help us, we pray, to glorify you as our creator. Everything else in all creation shouts your glory, so we want our lives today to shout your glory as your prized creation. May it be so we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
