Who Am I? (Psalm 8)

• CARED FOR BY GOD

David expressed his wonder by saying, “What are people that you should think about them, mere mortals that you should care for them?” (vs. 4 NLT).

What we know today about the size of the Universe makes the Earth and its inhabitants look even more insignificant than they appeared in David’s day. Our knowledge of light years and the reaches of outer space give us even more reason to ask, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” (NKJV). Yet, in His great love, the Lord chose the Earth for Himself and created us in His image. God is mindful of us and He does care for us!

In his book, The Purpose-Driven Life, pastor Rick Warren writes, “Why did God do all this? Why did he bother to go to all the trouble of creating a universe for us? Because he is a God of love. This kind of love is difficult to fathom, but it’s fundamentally reliable. You were created as a special object of God’s love! God made you so he could love you. This is a truth to build your life on.” (p.24)

The Bible says, “I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth. Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I made you and will take care of you. I will carry you and save you” (Isaiah 46:3-4 NCV).

God is constantly demonstrating His love for us. The Bible says that God can “open the windows of heaven, and pour out a great a blessing” that there is not “room enough to receive it” (Mal. 3:10). Just as He once gave fishermen enough fish to sink their boat, so He can give us more blessings than we have capacity to enjoy. The Almighty can “bless you with blessings of heaven above and of the earth beneath… blessings of the grain and flowers, blessings reaching to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills” (Gen. 49:25-26 TLB).

When, in the general course of life, God’s children enter upon new paths, God’s love and care goes before them. That is, He anticipates the blessings we will require and puts them in our path. He knows what things we have need of before we ask Him. Expectant parents enjoy fixing up the baby’s room during the forty weeks it takes the child to arrive. We know that our little girl will need diapers, so we get some. We know she’ll need to eat, so we buy formula and baby food. We know she’ll sleep a lot, so we put together a complex crib. God goes before us like that.

Before we came into the world, He made it inhabitable.

Before we needed salvation, He made it possible.

Before we needed instruction and guidance, He wrote the Bible.

Before we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He offers eternal life.

Before we enter into eternity, He opened the gate to heaven.

God’s loving care for humankind was ultimately demonstrated by Jesus, who went to the cross. When the mob came to take Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, He could have called “twelve legions of angels” (72,000) to protect Himself, but He didn’t. He had the power to run away from the interrogations of the Jewish council, Pilate, and Herod, but Jesus chose not to do so. Instead, He chose to endure ridicule, physical and mental torture. He chose the nails.