PSALM 8

1 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 From the lips of children and infants

you have ordained praise,because of your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

4 What is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:

7 All flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas,

9 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

WHY WE HAVE VALUE

In a commencement address to a graduating class at Miami Univercity, columinist George Will gave some statistics that help to diminish our sence of self-importance. He pointed out that "the sun around which earth orbits is one of perhaps 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, which is a piddling galaxy next door to nothing much." He added, "There are perhaps forty billion galaxies in the still-unfolding universe. If all the stars in the universe were only the size of the head of a pin, they still would fill Miami's Orange bowl to overflowing more than three billion times." There is a plus side to all that overwhelming data. The God who created and sustains our star-studded cosmos in its incomprehensible vastness loves us. And He doesn't just love the human race as an entity of multiplied billions. He loves us individually. What Paul exclaims to be true about himself is true about each of us in all our insignificance: Christ "loved me and gave himself for me"(Galations 2:20). Astronomically, we are insignificant. But we are the beloved objects of God's care. While we have no reason for pride, we are inexpressibly grateful to the Lord whose love for us personally is revealed at Calvary's cross.

Vernon Grounds