The Majesty of God

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 8.

            We use a lot of different terms to describe God.  We describe God as our father.  We describe God as our friend.  We describe God as our guide.  We describe God as our shepherd.  And of course, we could go on and on with different words we use to describe God.

            The thing is, though, that a lot of those words are words that kind of bring God down to our human level.  Now that’s not entirely a bad thing.  God does come down to our level, in some ways.  That’s one of the great things about Jesus--God the Son--coming to earth.  God, through Jesus, took human form.  God took a form that we, as human beings, could understand.  And that’s one of the reasons we use words that bring God down to our level--our level is the only level we can really understand.  So if we’re going to have any sort of understanding of God, we pretty much have to bring down to a human level, at least in some ways.

            But at the same time, we need to be careful with that.  It’s true that God loves us like a father, or a friend, and it’s important that we know that.  But at the same time, we need to remember that God is more than that.  God is God.  God is all-knowing.  God is all-seeing.  God is all-wise.  God is all-powerful.  God is almighty.  God is...well, all-everything, really.  Everything great and good, anyway.

            It’s important that we know that, too.  Because while it’s okay to think of God loving us like a father or a friend, we don’t worship fathers.  Even on Father’s Day, when we recognize the importance of fathers, we don’t worship them.  We don’t worship friends, either.  We do worship God.  Or at least, as Christians, we’re supposed to.  So it’s important that we recognize who God is, and realize that God truly is worthy, and more than worthy, of our worship.

            Psalm Eight encourages us to think about who God is.  It tells us that God’s name is majestic in all the earth.  There’s kind of an old-fashioned word--”majestic”.  I mean, we’ve probably all heard it, but how often do we use it?  Not very often.  It refers to someone who has sovereign power, authority, and dignity.

            In other words, God is King.  We say that all the time--God is King--but we don’t think often enough about what it means.  It means that God has all power.  And God because God is King, God has the authority to use that power in any way God chooses.  And you and I don’t have the right to say much of anything about it.

            And God has dignity.  Do you ever think of God that way?  I don’t know that it ever occurred to me to think of God as having dignity.  I mean, I think it’s true.  I just never really thought about it before.  What dignity means is that God is worthy of honor and respect from us.

            These are all things to remember the next time we question why God allows things to happen the way they do.  I mean, I don’t think God will get mad at us for doing it, but really we have no right to.  God is king.  And one of the things about being king is that you get to do whatever you choose.  Now, I don’t mean to imply that God acts arbitrarily--God acts with our best interests in mind, even if we don’t always see it that way.  But the point is that we need to recognize that God does not owe us anything, including giving us an explanation for why God does what God does.  God is God.  We need to accept what God does, and we need to trust that God is acting for our benefit, even if we don’t understand how at the time.

            But there’s one other thing that dignity means, too, and I think this is also important.  Dignity also means having a sense of self-respect.  Do you ever think of God that way, as having a sense of self-respect?  What that means is that God will never act in a way that is inconsistent with God’s character.  So because God loves us, because God cares about us, God will act in ways that show God’s love for us.  Again, we may not understand it at the time.  But we can accept it, and we can trust it.

            The author of the psalm goes on to consider all that God has done.  The heavens are the work of God’s fingers.  God set the moon and the stars in place.  In other words, everything that is, everything that ever has been, everything that ever will be, comes from God.  God is the creator of it all.  

            Think of the awesome power that would take.  And think of the awesome wisdom that would take.  To work everything out so that the universe could function the way it does.  To work everything out so that our solar system can function the way it does.  To work everything out so that our world can function the way it does.  To work everything out so that life could exist on this planet, that we could have food to eat and water to drink and air to breathe.  Can you and I even imagine what a massive project that would be?

            And yet, for God, it was really no big deal.  The creation story tells us God was able to create all this just by speaking a word.  God said let there be light and there was.  God said let the water be separated from the dry ground and it was.  God said let there be plants and trees bearing fruit and there was.  And on and on and on.  God said it and it happened.  That’s majestic power.  That’s power worthy of God the King.

            And then, the author of the psalm looks at himself, and all other human beings.  And he sees that, compared to God, we’re pretty much nothing.  He says, “What is mankind, that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”

            The author is saying, God, as great as you are, why do you care about us?  In fact, why do you pay any attention to us at all?  You certainly would not have to.  We can do nothing for you.  We are dependent on you for everything.  You are everything.  And we are nothing.  Why do you care about us?

            He cannot answer that question.  But he recognizes that God does not just care about us.  Amazingly enough, God grants us care over God’s creation.  Listen to this.  Referring to human beings, he says, “You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.  You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:  all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”

            Our author is amazed.  He cannot believe it.  And we should be amazed, too, when we think about this.  God has made us--you and me--we bumbling, stumbling human beings who have a hard time remembering where we put the TV remote or what we walked into the kitchen for--God has made us just a little lower than angels.  God has crowned us--you and me--with glory and honor.  God has made us rulers over God’s creation.  God has put all those things--the animals, the birds, the fish, everything--under our control.

            Think of the level of trust God puts in us.  God used God’s power and God’s wisdom to create all the world, and then God said, okay, you human beings take care of it for me.  That’s amazing.  I mean, I don’t trust most people to give me correct change at the convenience store.  And here’s God, trusting us to take care of all of God’s creation.

            Think of how highly God must think of us, to do that.  Think of how valuable you and I have to be, for God to give us that kind of responsibility.  Think of the faith God puts in us, to trust that you and I will be responsible and take proper care of all the things God has created.

            Have you ever thought about that?  We talk all the time about how we need to have faith in God, and that’s absolutely true.  But God has faith in us!  God has faith in you.  And God has faith in me.  God has so much faith in us that God trust us with the care of God’s creation.

            Think about that.  It’s something that should be an incredible help to us.  Most of us struggle with our feelings of self-worth sometimes.  We wonder if we’re good enough.  We wonder if we’re worthy of friendship or love.  And yet, here’s God saying we’re so good and so special and so important that He can trust us with care of his creation.  What an incredible thing!

            It’s fine to think of God as a father and as a friend.  We need to think of God that way sometimes.  But God is also the king, with sovereign power, authority, and dignity.  God has the power to do anything God chooses to do, and you and I don’t have anything to say about it.  

But God always uses that power for our benefit.  In fact, God created everything for our benefit.  And God did that even though we are nothing compared to God.  And then--the amazing thing--God places so much faith in us that God puts God’s creation in our hands.

God’s name truly is and should be majestic in all the earth.  May we treat God with all the honor and respect God deserves.  And may we remember that God treats us that same way.  Even if we feel we don’t deserve it, God treats us with honor and respect, too, because we are that valuable to God.  

Lord, our Lord, how majestic your name truly is and should be in all the earth.