“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:1,3,4).
We are having some beautiful Spring-like weather here in south-central PA with temps yesterday near 70 and projected even higher today to the mid-70’s! We are in a spring clean-up, house fix-up mode. I tend to handle the outdoor type projects and yesterday Ester helped me with the leaf clean-up. Our oaks tend to shed all through the winter and still have some leaves on them. So I’m still raking leaves even when the new leaves appear. I burn them which creates one of my favorite aromas. If I could I would buy a Yankee Candle with a “burning leaves” scent!Brooksyne is painting our bedroom ceiling and walls for the first time since we moved to our house in 2002. She hung wallpaper right after we moved in, so removing wallpaper in preparation for the paint job has been quite an effort over several days. We are also replacing the 19 year old carpet with LVT plank flooring.
Painting is one of my (Stephen’s) least favorite duties so I’m thankful Brooksyne handles that, although I assist her in various ways, especially when it comes to moving furniture and getting supplies. Since painting is on our minds these days I thought we’d consider a painting theme in our message today.
My painting interests and abilities probably peaked at whatever age they teach children to finger paint. Now that was fun and didn’t require a great deal of skill. Just make a mess and it will probably pass, especially if you call it “modern art”. And if you have the right connections you just might get a hefty government grant.We enjoy the little stories of what happens when children misunderstand concepts and wording in the Bible that we, as adults, take for granted. A little girl was asked what God did and she said, “God is an artist”. The teacher asked her what she meant and recalling the line from the Lord’s Prayer (as she understood it) the child replied, “Our Father who does art in heaven.”
Today let us consider God as a finger painter who does art in heaven with Psalm 8:3 in mind. I suppose you could call it “divine finger painting”
based on the phrase “the work of Your fingers“). This is the creation of the moon and the stars, which God has set in place! This indeed is “our Father who does art in heaven”.Psalm 8 is a wonderful Psalm written by David which extols God’s greatness. It’s only nine verses long and can be read (or listened to) in about 1 minute. It begins and ends with the phrase, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!” It’s brief but packed with majestic truths concerning God’s glory and man’s dignity.
David considers, “What is man that you are mindful of Him?” In recognizing the majesty of God in His creation we sense our own puniness, a word that means “of inferior size, strength, or significance”. Reflecting on God’s greatness can certainly give us a proper perspective on the Almighty power of our sovereign Lord. We may wonder how such a great God would even be mindful of us.But thanks be to God, He is mindful of us. Not only is He mindful, but He loves, cares, and watches over all His creation. Today He, who never changes, is concerned for each one of us. We find our rightful place when we, like David, live with the awareness of God’s greatness.
O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thine hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout the universe displayed.
Consider all the worlds Thine hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
