Psalm 8: 3 – 6
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.
I think this is a good place for a Selah – stop and consider these words. That is where David was. He reflected on who we are, who God made us to be and that thought awed him. When we consider who God is and the vastness of His creative might we are brought up short. God has made us second only to Himself. We are only a little lower than God. How can that be? Look at humanity. Who are we that God should give us a thought?
And that is the point. We are His beloved. In His creation of us, He made us to rule and reign. Consider the majesty of His creation. The stars and planets are in perfect synchronicity. How do you even create a planet, much less put it in a system of other heavenly bodies so that they all perform a celestial dance in a rhythm that has gone on for thousands and even millions of years? Think of the majesty of the created animals that belong to this planet. Are they not amazing? I could have never come up with the plethora of life forms which grace the earth. I am not up to the task of reigning and caring for all the gloriousness of the Father’s creation and yet, He has said that we are made to be only a little lower than Himself. That is quite a statement.
Some translations ponder why God should give any thought to human beings saying that He has made them a little lower than angels. The translators clearly think that is too high a status for humans but, this is one of those occasions where they have simply gotten it wrong. Our self-esteem and the recognition of how lowly we can be interferes with the accuracy of translation here. The word used in this passage is Elohim. This is a word for God, so the passage is quite clear. God has made us second only to the God head. You have not been made lower than angels. Your position is above the angels and below God. A child is ranked more highly than an angel. You are a child of God. Though it can be hard to accept, the angels work for us as they work for God. What I have to say about that is that we need to learn to be in our proper place. In our rightful place with our head wrapped around who we are there is no egocentricity nor false humility. There is no weakness in our self-identity because we see ourselves in the reflection of who God is, not in anything we contribute. When we see ourselves outside of God, then, yes, who are we that God should take any notice of us at all. However, while David pondered this question, he marveled that we have been given the status of one step below God. We on the other hand see ourselves as worms of the dirt. Not only are we lower than angels but we may see ourselves and unworthy of any status. David was not hung up on this because he understood that his worthiness and ours is not a product of our labor or righteousness. Our status is derived solely from birth. We have been born into the family of the Lord God. It is He who has given us a title and status.
It seems that when people read this passage they stop with, “Yet You have made him a little lower than God.” That becomes the title sentence of the passage and it is on this sentence that people cogitate. I suggest we read on. Verses five and six read, “You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” Stop and ponder that. Move on from deliberating on why God would give us any status at all and move on to contemplating the status and the role, into which you have been placed. You, my beloved, have been crowned with glory and majesty. You were made to rule over all the works of the Father’s hands. You, dear reader, have all things under your feet, placed there by the Almighty Creator Himself.
If you can grasp that the Father means these words literally, it can change your life. It certainly changed David’s. In fact, the whole of David’s life was colored by this revelation. He knew full well that he was unworthy of any of the Father’s consideration, but he knew equally well that he was entitled to them all. You don’t even have to be a good child to inherit your Father’s name, or business or estate. You have only to be born into the family. David understood that. He knew he was an unworthy child of the king but a child none the less. If we will take this identity into our hearts and embrace our position with the Father, we too will move mountains and do great things.