What is Man?

In Psalm 8, David asks a question of God. He asks, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” What an important question for us to ask. When we think about God in all his majesty and wonder what are we?

Have you ever stood next to the ocean? I have and can tell you that looking out at the ocean’s vastness, I felt small. I have been to the Grand Canyon several times in my life. Standing on the rim of the canyon and seeing the immensity of it, its beauty, and understanding the danger if I fall over the edge, I felt tiny in comparison. When I look up at the night sky realizing the limitlessness of space, again I feel small.

God created all of it. He is so much bigger than all of this. He is the one that simply spoke things into existence. He created man and breathed life into man. He created man out of love, in hopes that humanity would love him back. Yet, often times we don’t. Even though we are created in his image, we don’t act out of love like God created us to do. Far too often, we treat others inhumanly, as less than image bearers of God.

Why Does God Take Notice?

So, what is man that God should take notice of him? Humanity hasn’t changed since Adam’s fall. We can look at history and understand that man can do some pretty wicked things. Mankind can be very hurtful to one another. We kill one another in wars and in drive-by shootings. We destroy one another with our words, not valuing the honor and worth of any person’s life.

Cyberbullying is the newest way we destroy one another. I’ve seen where teens will tell other teens to go kill themselves, that the world will be better off without them. What is man that God should be mindful of them?

I love this question that David poses. I think that it’s something that most people grapple with. Let me put his question in another form: “do I matter?” How about this way: “Does God see me?”

How many times have people prayed something like, “God, I don’t know if you exist, or even if you know who I am, but will you please help me?”

Do I matter? Do I have a purpose? Does God see me? Does he know me? Have I blown things so badly that he wouldn’t even look at me?

What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

That’s the question on most of our minds, isn’t it? But the question doesn’t stop there. David goes on to give us the answer because knew the heart of God. The shepherd boy turned king had spent a lot of time talking with God while he tended those sheep. He knew the heart of God towards him. He knew God’s heart so well that God himself said that David was a man after his own heart (Acts 13:22).

David asks the question in the midst of his marveling over creation. Yet, we find that man is greater than creation. David declares that God made man a little lower than God himself, and crowned him with glory and honor (v. 5). Not only that, but he made him to rule over God’s creation (v. 6). He put all things under man’s feet (v. 6-8).

What I want us to see is that David is writing this after Adam’s fall. This is an important point that we can’t afford to miss.

God’s Greatest Creation

Most Christians look at man as washed up and degenerate. Most of what I heard growing up was that man was depraved and incapable of doing good. Supposedly, this was because we had Adam’s sin within us. We were depraved from birth. We had no hope. Now, I do understand that we cannot be saved without Jesus so I am not saying that we are good enough to earn heaven.

I am saying that David recognized that God still saw mankind as his greatest creation. Mankind was still his image bearers, broken as they may be. Mankind was still crowned with glory and honor.

Notice in these verses that David isn’t talking about what God had done in the creation narrative. David says that “you crown him” not you “crowned” Adam. He says “you make him to rule” not you made him a ruler but he blew it.

This is a most important distinction for us to understand. It has to do with our understanding of how God sees us, and how he has always seen us. He sees us as he created us. We are his image and likeness. He will not throw away his creation!

He is still crowning mankind with his glory and honor. Mankind may, as Adam did, throw it off, reject it, and walk away from it. But God is looking at us in that manner. He is constantly drawing us to Jesus so that we can see clearly how he sees us. We can’t see God clearly without Jesus.

One other important thing to understand about this passage is that David wrote this under the Old Covenant. This was written pre-Jesus. That’s important because many Christians teach that when God sees us he sees Jesus. I struggle with this some because I don’t believe that God wants us to lose who we are as his creation.

God Knows

Yes, we are in Christ as a believer. I am in Christ as it relates to his righteousness and what he has done for me. But to say that when God looks at me he only sees Jesus, I believe is fundamentally wrong and denies the fact that God loves us individually. He knows our names. He knows our thoughts. Let that sink in for a minute.

He . . . knows . . . YOUR . . . name.

He . . . knows . . . YOUR . . . thoughts.

He . . . knows . . . WHO . . . you . . . are.

He . . . SEES . . . you!

Yes, if you have put your faith in Christ, then you are the righteous of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Yes, we are part of the body of Christ. Yes, we are the bride of Christ. But, God never asks us to lose our individual identity to become just one of the masses in Christ.

We are not like the Borg in the Star Trek franchise where we are simply assimilated into the group and lose our entire identity. No, God knows you. God has crowned you with glory and honor. He has made you a little lower than Himself. He has made you a ruler over the works of his hands. This is a corporate and individual thing!

As we individually assume this mandate and charge, then collectively we will work together for the good of God’s creation.