Deeper Reflection
Psalm 8:5-8 gives us two wondrous truths about our place in God’s creation. We will cover the first truth today and the second tomorrow. The first truth is: our value is given by God. Verse 5a tells us that God has made humanity a little lower than the “heavenly beings” (or “angels”, NIV). The Hebrew noun translated into these two terms is elohim, which can also be translated as “God”. Thus, one reading of verse 5a is that humanity was made a little lower than God Himself! By God’s design, we are closer to God than anything else in the created order.²⁸ God, the King of all, graciously crowns us with the glory and honour that only He has the right to bestow!When we deeply understand that we are worth that much to God, it profoundly changes the way we live. We can stop being insecure about ourselves and envious of others. We can cease trying to shore up our selfworth in all kinds of unhelpful ways, such as through worldly achievement, the accumulation of wealth or looking for love in all the wrong places.Also, we can be empowered to love and honour other people, regardless of whether the world deems them lovely or honourable, because they too are wonderfully created by God. We can value those whom society despises or marginalises. We can love and serve others out of the reservoir of God’s redemptive love. For God has forgiven our sins and redeemed us in Christ from everything that makes us unworthy of God; through faith in Christ, we have become God’s sons and daughters (Eph 1:5-7)! Hallelujah!

²⁸ Longman, T., III. (2014). Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary. (D. G. Firth, Ed.) (Vol. 15–16, p. 81). Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press.