Transcription
Have you ever questioned your place in this world? Have you ever thought of yourself as being unimportant or forgotten by God? If you have, let me ask you a question: When was the last time you stopped what you were doing and took in the world around you? Nature, the moon, the stars? Because when the psalmist did that, did that, when he considered creation, he was overwhelmed with awe at God's love and care towards us.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Visual Scriptures. For those who might be new to this channel, my name is Mark. On this channel, I combine my love for God and filmmaking together to share His word with others. Over the last few videos, we have been exploring the book of Psalms, deconstructing the individual Psalms, and seeing how they can relate to our lives today. In doing so, we have been looking at the deeper meanings we can often miss in our 21st-century perspectives.
Today, we are going to be having a look at Psalm 8. One of the most well-known Psalms, and a Psalm that I personally find both humbling and profoundly reassuring and comforting at the same time. If you've watched my last few videos breaking down the Psalms preceding this one, you may have noticed that Psalms 3 to 7 had a common theme of sadness, despair, and heartache. They were Psalms written by individuals going through horrible circumstances. You will also see a similar theme in the Psalms preceding this one.
Psalm 8, however, stands in contrast to these other Psalms. As Professor Leonard Mayer outlines, Psalm 8 stands as a beacon of light, illuminating a bleak and desolate landscape with its enjoyment of the glory of Yahweh as revealed in the majesty of creation. It is, as David Kimchi, one of the most well-known medieval rabbis, put it, a hymn and a rendering of praise and thanks to God and a recounting of His acts of power.
This Psalm is set against the backdrop of an individual marveling at God's creation. In verse 3, we read about David considering the heavens, the works of God's fingers, the moon and the stars. He is marveling at the magnitude of God's creation, the vast and infinite night sky, and this prompts him to ask a question, an interesting one: "What is mankind that you are mindful of them? Human beings that you care for them?" The psalmist is confused. Why does a God so powerful and mighty love us, even though we as humans are so fickle and small?
More so, the psalmist points out that God doesn't just care about us, but He has made us a little lower than the angels and crowned us with glory and honor, making us rulers over the works of His hands. This refers to the creation story in Genesis 1 that states that God blessed them, Adam and Eve, the first people, and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the Earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
But why, the psalmist wonders, wouldn't you think the same thing? I mean, over the course of the next few chapters in Genesis, we see that Adam and Eve directly disobey God's instructions in chapter 3. Their son Cain killing their other son Abel in chapter 4, and then humanity choosing a path of wickedness in chapter 5. Even today, when you look around at the world, it really makes you wonder, why would God care about us? And more so, why would He love us? That doesn't make any sense. Surely He doesn't love us that much.
Well, God does love us, and He loves us a lot. The Bible is clear about that. There are countless verses throughout the Bible that describe God's great love for us. For example, Psalm 139 discusses at length the strength of God's love and attention towards us: "For you created my innermost being; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you."
Later on in the Bible, in Luke chapter 12 verse 6, it says that "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered." And in Romans chapter 5 verse 8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." There are so many other verses. I could go on and on, and this video would last for hours, but the point is clear: God does love us.
This Psalm, however, is not intended to explain why God loves us or why He cares about us so much. No, as I said in my previous videos about the Psalms, the Psalms are there for us to process our various emotions and thoughts in life. Unfortunately, many of us question God's love at some point in our lives, and almost all of us struggle with negative thoughts about our self-worth in this world. It is estimated that approximately 85 percent of people worldwide have low self-esteem. We all, at some point in our lives, question our place in this world and whether we are truly important to anyone. Some of us feel alone and forgotten. Some of us feel ignored by family and friends and the world as a whole.
But the psalmist provides us with a solution to these negative thoughts. Going back too early on in this video, I explained that this Psalm was set against the backdrop of an individual marveling at God's creation. You see, there is a Jewish idea that God reveals Himself to us in nature. And so, the greater our awareness of the immensity and complexity of the universe around us, the greater will be our awe for God and His love for us.
So, when you start doubting your self-worth or feel down or alone, unloved, stop what you are doing, look up at the sky, the stars, the sound on the shore, the trees moving in the wind, and think about God's indescribable love for you and His presence around you always. You are worth so much to Him, and He loves you more than you can ever comprehend. He is not like a celebrity that doesn't know your name. No, He knows each of us individually better than we could ever know ourselves. He knows every hair on your head, and He cares about you completely. His love endures forever, as it says in Psalm 33 verse 5: "The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the Earth is full of his unfailing love."
That's it from me today. Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed this video and found it helpful, please consider hitting that like button and sharing this video with someone you think may need it. Please also consider subscribing for more videos on the Psalms and how they can relate to our lives today. Thanks again for watching, and until next time, stay safe and keep that faith.
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