What is man that
you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (NIV 1984, Psalm 8:4).
Years ago, a man
with whom I was in a discussion said, rather snobbishly: “I don’t believe in an
interventionist God.” And I thought: How sad for you.
Verse one speaks of
God’s glory being manifested in creation: Lord, our Lord, how
majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. My deist friend would most likely have been
quite comfortable with this portrait of God, but no doubt stopped reading
before verse four.
Deism is the belief in a detached creator God who
has set the world to run on its own, much like a watchmaker engineering a
watch which he then winds up and lets go unattended. God exists but he has no
involvement or interaction with creation. There’s nothing personal or
intimate about the deist God.
Theism (for our discussion Christian
Theism) teaches that not only did God create the universe, but that he is still
intimately and personally involved with people.
The Psalmist here
acknowledges not only man’s smallness compared to the vastness of the heavens
and earth God has created, but also draws attention to the truth that God takes
special notice of humanity… his crowning creation.
This highlights
God’s transcendence – his otherness (he is above and separate from the created order, which is the hallmark
of deism) – and his immanence (the idea that God is close to and involved with
his creation which is where deism and theism part company).
Thinking of God’s
attentiveness to his creation always takes me back to the story of Hagar in the
desert when she spoke to God: You are the God who sees me (Genesis 16:13).
What is man that you are mindful of him? The writer is literally declaring that God’s
mind is filled with thoughts of and care for you.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
How does it make you feel
to know that you are on God’s mind?
No comments:
Post a Comment