Prayer Rosy and message from Gary

Message

Please read Psalm 8

As a boy, Jesus growing up in the Jewish culture would have sung many Psalms. Theologian Scott McKnight says the book of Psalms is like the wardrobe door in the C.S. Lewis classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where once you enter you discover a new world. Archbishop Rowan Williams said of the Psalms: ‘Psalms will be an enormous help to Christians who want to make fuller use of the greatest scriptural resources for prayer.’ Psalm 8 is written by King David. It’s a quiet song, not overly bold or in your face but a psalm that clearly for David in the midst of his reign over Israel was essential for a man in his leadership position.

So David’s gazing into God’s heavens allowed him to get a heavenly perspective of God’s beauty, power, authority, majesty and splendour that translates back to the earth all that God is. In this psalm King David doesn’t separate heaven and earth. They are held together constantly just as he understood the Ark of the Covenant represented the presence of God on Earth as it is in heaven. In today’s world many are confused by where heaven is, e.g. heaven is ‘up there’ and Earth is ‘down here’. If that is our thinking then God must rule from a distance. This is not the thinking of the Old Testament, New Testament or King David who has written of the heavens and earth as one in this psalm. From David’s perspective after looking to the heavens he could see God’s power and majesty on the earth: You have built a stronghold by the songs of children … (v 2). Even defenceless babies ‘will silence the madness of those who oppose you’ (v 2). King David could see and believe this truth that the God of the heavens and the earth is the only one we can trust and be confident in, that he will accomplish what he has put into place.

If we were to read the Psalms on a consistent basis we would discover futuristic hope and a coming redeemer. As a Jew, David wrote and sung about this as well as no doubt hearing stories of Israel’s future hope. As David looks at the splendour of God’s creative genius (v 3) he must ask the question (v 4): ‘Why would you bother with us? Why would you give honour to humans? Why would you set us as stewards over your creation?’ It’s a fair question to ask as we look into the heavens and see order and splendour and then look at the earth and see chaos, heartbreak, peace, kindness, joy, confusion and anger. What a mixture we are, but that’s what David experienced as well.

How would you answer that question in v 4? What understanding would you bring to the table? Verse 5 gives an answer. God gives honour to his creation. He delights in us, we are his pride and joy. You and I are the best idea he has ever had (John 3:17).  Wow! How does that make you feel? How life giving are those words to us? It’s like the woman at the well in John, chap 4, being given rivers of living water. It’s like Zacchaeus (Luke 19) being told by Jesus that he’s coming to lunch. These life-giving words Jesus spoke into these lives and so many more are the same words he speaks to us. The same Jesus invites us to come to him – for all those who have burdens, his yoke is light.

It’s only been in the last four years that I have repented – that means I changed the way I think about God and what he thinks of me. The good news for me now is not so much how I can receive Jesus in my life, rather it’s the news that Jesus has received me into his. My identity is found in Jesus alone, not in what I can do or how I perform. The good news of the incarnation is that Jesus came not chiefly because we are bad, but that God is good. For you and me these words that Jesus speaks to us are transforming because they heal our hearts and minds.

Have you been pondering the question in this psalm: why would a God of splendour and majesty delight to honour human beings to be his caretakers over all the earth? After all, Adam and Eve turned their backs on our Creator God’s design and vocation; they chose to no longer trust Him and took matters into their own hands. Look at the turmoil and destruction that decision has incurred. So why would God persist with us as his caretakers of this world? I will attempt to answer this in a few ways.

• Firstly, we are his beloved creation and he predestined us to become his children, to be co-heirs with his Son. He delights in us and wants us to participate with Him.

• Secondly, all the Old Testament prophets and writers knew of the futuristic hope for Israel. Psalm 8 reveals that when David took his eyes away from the darkness of the world, he immediately saw the true big picture: the divine order of the universe, with a Creator God.

• Thirdly, God never rescinded his plan told to Adam and Eve to ‘to take dominion over the earth’, i.e. to care for it (Genesis 1:18). He knew there would be a time of restoration.

• You see, someone was coming. The Messiah was always in the back of every Israelite’s thinking, especially when they sang songs of praises and retold their stories. The writer to Hebrews quotes from Psalm 8 and speaks into ‘Someone is coming’ in Hebrews 2:5-12. You may like to meditate on these verses and let the Holy Spirit shepherd you into this marvellous truth.

My humble summary of this passage is this: Jesus’ exultation after his earthly ministry, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension has placed him as the example of us in which we can trust and live in obedience in Christ’s finished work. That power that crippled Adam and Eve (idolatry, putting themselves before God) was broken on the cross at Calvary. Therefore we who see Jesus, now can be restored to the true image of God (to be truly human) and live out that vocation in the Kingdom of God, which the Son of God began after his baptism by John the Baptist. The victory of Jesus over idolatry which leads to sin transformed the image of ourselves into the image of God. Because of Christ, the commission to be caretakers over creation takes effect in Jesus’ redemption and He will bring all things to rest under our authority.

Now back to Psalm 8 to conclude. The above discussion is why David could look to the cosmos confidently and see the answers to his questions. We need to note that David sought for an answer to his questions. And he looked outside himself to God. Matthew 6:33 directs us to do the same, because when we seek God’s Kingdom we will find it. Why do we need to seek? Because in our seeking we discover our true heart needs. And when we seek God’s Kingdom and his righteousness (he makes us right before him) we then express Hebrews 2:9 – we see Jesus. Amen

Gary Hawke