Notes on Hope Devotional

  The Bigness of God

Psalm 8:3, 4 (NIV)
 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

Two weeks ago, the world watched as the moon went in front of the sun for a total eclipse. The rare experience evoked awe and wonder and incited a take-your-breath-away moment as people wearing funny-looking glasses turned their gaze toward the sky. These verses today offer a commentary on creation and the Creator: “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place.”

During the eclipse in southern California, I was inside an office and unable to take a peek out the window. In the evening, I watched the news and saw the thousands of people in places where the sky went from light to dark in minutes. Even the news commentators had a difficult time expressing their awe. As I watched, I said, “Look what God did!” God was exhibiting His authority, power, and majesty for all of us to see. The bigness of God was on display.

In my living room, I have a picture of a French countryside from the photographer who took the photo. He gave it to me. I know who he is. We are given God’s creation to look at every day. We know who He is. There’s a magnet in us that draws us to God through creation.

With our eyes, we see, and, in our hearts, we know the Creator. Then comes the question in verse 4, “What is mankind that you are mindful of him?” Or in other words, “How can You notice of me, in the vastness and magnitude of the universe?”

David is cited as the author of these verses in Psalm 8, so my imagination wonders if he spent hours gazing at the night sky while tending sheep as a young boy. In that posture, we are forced to ask, “God, if you made all this, who am I, a speck on the planet, that You would even care for me?”

Embedded in this question is a sense of how small we are in comparison to how big God is. God, who created the universe, spoke the land, sea, animals, and every living thing into existence, is the same God who calls us by name, knows how many hairs are on our heads, and hears our wordless prayers. David eloquently expresses a response in Psalm 139:6 that we can resonate with, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” Our brains are not fully able to comprehend our finiteness in light of God’s infiniteness.

However, we can know that Almighty God, in all of His majesty and magnitude, is the same loving God who sees, hears, loves, and cares for us by name. In His bigness, we are loved and seen.

Dear Heavenly Father,
We stand in awe of Your majesty and bigness. Thank you for being Creator over all, and at the same time, being a loving Heavenly Father who sees us in our humanity and cares about our deepest, unspoken needs. Help us in our humanity as we seek You.
In Jesus Name, Amen