How awesome is our God?
Within the next few weeks (if it hasn’t already happened,) Christmas decorations and themed merchandise will begin appearing in the local stores. Some complain that retailers roll out the Christmas merchandise too soon.
I think it’s great!
Think about it… for three months, for approximately 25 percent of the calendar year, we will prepare to celebrate a holiday that commemorates the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God.
Now sure, most of the world celebrates the secular aspects of Christmas. The tree, lights, hot chocolate, Santa, gifts and eggnog. And the retailers aren’t rolling out Christmas merchandise to extend their praise for the birth of the Savior, but rather, to make sure they hit their sales goals for the fourth quarter.
I am not oblivious to any of this. Still, the holiday was coined to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and we have an amazing open door in our culture to turn the nation’s attention back to the Lord for almost three months every year.
Think about what God did here. He took a pagan holiday that was re-worked by the Catholic church and transformed it into an annual cultural season centered on His Son. How excellent is that?
Even those who only observe the secular parts of the holiday confess that it is a season of peace and good will toward others. So, even though they may ignore His name, they still celebrate His nature.
In Psalm 8, David opens by saying, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who has set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”
God’s name is excellent in the earth because of the praise of His people. And even though His people may not be regarded as powerful or influential by the rest of the world, God is still glorified by their voices. His actions and His work on earth show His power and excellency.
David goes on to say, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitests him?”
David takes in the night sky. This is something that in the western world, we have lost for the most part. The light pollution from the cities makes the night sky less visible. I rarely saw a star when I lived in Austin.
I went to college with kids from Dallas and Houston who had never seen the night sky. As our culture urbanizes, fewer will experience the breath-taking beauty of a clear night sky full of stars.
I’ll be honest. I had forgotten. That is, until I stepped into the parking lot of the church one night. Our small, rural community has very little light pollution, and the night sky shines brightly here. It was amazing.
David takes in the night sky… which is huge, magnificent, and beautiful. On the right nights, the beauty of the night sky can impact you the same way the beauty and power of the ocean can impact you at the beach.
Taking all this in, David wonders, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, and the son of man, that you visit him?”
With all the power and glory in God’s creation, why does He preoccupy Himself with man, and why does He go to such great lengths to care for us?
When you consider the glories of the universe, the fact that we are at the top of God’s mind should blow ours. Out of all He has to show the angels His power and glory, He chooses to direct the attention to us, so that we can reflect the attention back to Him.
In the New Testament, the book of Hebrews will take these same verses and point us to Christ.
Pausing to consider this, David concludes with, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”
We truly worship an amazing God. He is not only glorified by His own creation, but He can take the imperfect things of this world and draw glory from them.
A God this powerful, Who as set his eyes and love toward us, is One worth trusting and worshipping.
Keep the faith, keep moving forward, and keep looking up.
Leland Acker 