Psalm 8

This has always been one of my most favorite psalms, especially this part: “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens... 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?” (vs 1, 3-4)

I’m sure, at the time, David had no idea how great a question he had asked. For, I’m sure that when he looked into the heavens, he had a sense that Earth was a small speck in a large place, but I’m not sure he knew how small. If you want to see something fascinating, look at these two pictures. The top one shows our planets in relative size to our sun; the bottom one shows our sun in perspective with other known stars in the universe.

Do you see our teeny, one-pixel sun in that photo? Compared to our own sun, Earth is a tiny speck. But our own sun—which is so massive in our solar system—is but a speck when compared to other stars God has created.

God is an incredible artist. All that is required to understand this is to do what David did when he wrote this psalm—gaze up into a clear night sky. The stars and the planets, suspended in their places by nothing, follow their ordered courses as they sparkle and shine. And on our own tiny planet, the glory of God shines in a myriad of creative ways—from sunsets more beautiful than any painter could create to sweeping landscapes that have been the obsession of many photographers.

God’s glory is definitely on display everywhere for all to see.

But, unlike so many human artists whose work we admire, God is an artist whom we can know personally. In fact, He is not simply available to be known if we happen to be interested; He is actively pursuing us because He wants us to know Him! Everything He makes is for the enjoyment and benefit of His creatures—even those tiny, human specks who live on a tiny planet that revolves around a tiny star.

God is an incredible artist. He opens His mouth, and the giant stars come out. He speaks and whole galaxies of stars and planets are born. The ruler in His desk drawer does not measure in inches, but light-years. Yet, He knows the number of hairs you have on your head. And He has set His glory in the heavens so that we would know how majestic is His name in all the Earth!