God In His Majesty

In Saskatchewan, where I live, we sometimes see dazzling displays of the Northern Lights. On one occasion we were driving away from the lights of the city and the Northern Lights were so spectacular that we pulled off the road to stop and watch the pulsating dance of colored lights across the sky. We had a friend from England with us, and I urged her to get out of the car and look at this amazing sight, the chance of a lifetime. But she refused. She was terrified. Looking at the sky made her feel so insignificant.

She was right, of course. We know today far more about the stars, the universe, the distances and the eons of time than David ever did when he considered the heavens. By comparison, we may feel transient and totally insignificant.

The eye of faith sees it differently. In the creation account in Genesis 1, human beings are God’s crowning achievement. We are given sovereignty over all of creation. Although we have sometimes abused the authority he delegated to us and used it to our own ends, he has not abandoned his purpose. The original mandate was to rule the earth under God’s supremacy. The day will come when, in a new heaven and new earth, this mandate will be realized. Much will happen between David’s day and that time. All that has gone wrong will have to be put right. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, with the revelation of Jesus Christ, began to understand this. He saw that the words of the psalm could be read very differently. David looked back to the original creation. In the New Testament age, we can look forward. We shall return to this psalm and a Christian reading of it when we read Hebrews 2:1-9.

Marvel at God’s love and care for creation. Take some detail of it–a flower, leaf, sunrise or sunset–and use the psalm to praise the Creator.