He has entrusted us

 by Timothy Howe

Today, we finish looking at Psalm 8. 

               Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

                   and crowned him with glory and honor.

               You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

                   you have put all things under his feet, 

                         all sheep and oxen, 

                         and also the beasts of the field,

                         the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, 

                        whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

               O Lord, our Lord, 

                      How Majestic is you name in all the earth!

                                                                  Psalm 8:5-9 ESV

The glorious God shares His authority with us. 

The Psalmist understands something that we take for granted today, but should be considered shocking. We have seen how that we are puny in the grand scheme of the universe. Yet the maker of the universe, the One who dwarfs it in every way imaginable, this same God esteems us. God esteems you. David says that he has made us just a little lower than the heavenly beings and given us glory and honor. David is aware that we were shaped out of the dust of the earth, but also made in the “image of God.” We share in glory and honor only so far as the Lord gives it to us. We are of the earth and in charge of the earth. We rule over everything on the earth.

This metaphor of a created being, yet one having authority, the work of God who has all things under our feet hints of the Messiah who is coming who will be both fully Human and fully Divine.

The Service of Animals 

By claiming that man rules over the animals, David is making a bigger claim about God. He states that God has given authority to humans to rule over the animals of the earth, the birds of the heavens and the fish in the seas. This means that human beings are higher than those creatures. He has already hinted at our resemblance of God’s very image. What he is doing is tearing apart the religious myth systems of all the peoples around Israel. Egypt may be the best example. Egypt had a system of gods who ruled the world and the cosmos. These gods were different forms of the heavenly bodies – the sun, the moon, the earth, and the underworld. Other gods were deified animals – the jackal, the bull, the ram, a bird, etc. David is shouting out loudly that the Lord is not a cow or a dog. He is the Divine and these false gods are really nothing more that our subject.

He also declares that God esteems us higher than the animals we are put in charge of, but we are their caretakers. We are God's stewards of this planet and all species on it. We must protect it. The things of this world are not greater than humanity, but they are humanity's responsibility. You are God's most prized creation and you are set in charge of the rest.

Practical Dominion

How do we have dominion over all the earth practically speaking? There was a time when our society was agrarian that this was more easily understood. Well, obviously taking care to not pollute, to not waste and to not harm animals continues to fit this description. So does recycling, eating healthily and taking care regarding what products we purchase.

There is another way that most of us demonstrate dominion in our lives, however. This is with regards to our personal environment. I have often heard people who got themselves into to trouble find ways to blame some one else. It's the "the-devil-made-me-do-it" syndrome. People blame the way that they were raised, life's disappointments, temptations, emotions, and many other things for making poor decisions. We were created to have dominion. You have authority over all these things.Take charge and be a good steward over what God has given you.

The Marvel of the Name 

David reinforces the majesty of the Lord by singing again of His Name. He is a marvel, he is magnificent. He is greater than the enormity of the universe and in comparison we are hardly anything. But in His majesty, He has made us just below Him. We dangle just between the angels and the beasts and it God who redeems us to glory.

This Psalm teaches us to set our attention on the one Who created all things, Who sustains all things, and Who esteems us above all things. 

Know that you are special 

and choose to live like it.