July 1st

Lord of the Heavens

            O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

            When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

            O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:1-9

             It is easy for our world to feel incredibly small.  It can be confined to one house or one room with one child doing one routine in a pattern that feels like it may never end.  Our entire focus is on that one little person and we have minimal contact with others as we go through this season on our own.  It is easy to forget how big the world, the cosmos, and the God that we serve really are.

            There are times in this life that you have a moment of clarity at how small and insignificant you are…usually those times happen while in nature.  It could be hiking in the mountains or watching massive waves dash across the shore or seeing the vastness of sand dunes or just looking up at the night sky and seeing thousands of galaxies dotting the darkness.  Standing in the face of such power and such scope, it is easy to echo the Psalmist, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”  We wonder how our small, short lives could possibly matter to the One who created all this.

            But somehow, some way, they do.  They really, really do.  The Creator of the Universe knows your name…knows your story.  The God who holds Creation in His hand also holds your hand as you struggle through this life.  He knows the challenges of your child.  He knows the stress and the drama that you face every morning and every night.  The God who spoke the world into being also speaks comfort to your heart as you sit in that little room with that little person who needs things to be done in exactly the right way.

            I am not sure how to reconcile being awed by the power and scope of nature and at the same time feeling that the world is so small and isolated.  Despite going by different routes, they can both leave me feeling incredibly insignificant and alone.  Into that despair, the Psalmist again speaks.  “You have made mortals a little bit lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.”  Not only are we not worthless, the Creator Himself has declared that we are crafted in His image, the works of His hands and worthy of love and honor.  We may lack the raw power of the elements, but we are the children of the King and no detail of our life escapes his eye.

            When we stand on the shores watching the beating waves, He is there to share His creation with us.  When we gaze at the universe in wonder, He is there to share His creation with us.  When we are stuck at home with our child, reading the same book for the 100^th time as we prepare the same meal for them with the same music playing in the background…He is there to share His creation with us.  In this great and powerful universe, we are never alone.  The King is the Creator and is our Father.

A moment to reflect:

Try taking a walk with your child this week and see what in nature inspires you.