Who is man?

April 23, 2020 | Sally Bias

About this post: We want to stay connected! This blog post is part of a series of daily devotionals for this season. Read them, share them, and pray that they bring God's peace and love to our communities. To sign up to receive text notification of these posts, text ZPCDevo to 317.768.0600. We welcome your comments and questions each day. 

About the Author: Sally Bias has been attending ZPC for 22 years. She has served on staff at ZPC since 2003. She has three children: Carly and Celia, who are students at Indiana University, and Carter, who is a freshman at Zionsville Community High School.

Today's Scripture: Psalm 8

What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?         Psalm 8:4

I remember seeing a video at some point about Psalm 8:4. It involved individuals conducting man on the street interviews with students at a college where Psalm 8:4 was engraved on one of the buildings. They asked the students things like what the quote meant and where it came from. Very few, if any of them, knew the correct meaning or author. This is not surprising because, after some Googling, I discovered the aforementioned building is Emerson Hall, the philosophy building at Harvard University.

Through my Googling, I also found a blog post written a man who had been an undergraduate philosophy major at Harvard. He indicated that many of his contemporary philosophy professors did not believe in God. He said they taught that “truth was merely a human construct," and that "God was basically irrelevant to human thought.”

It’s pretty ironic that a verse of poetry written by David reminding us of our smallness and “less than-ness” is engraved on a building that, in 2020, represents to many the exact opposite. The blogger said if the engraving was done today, it probably would have read “What is God that thou art mindful of him?”

I have pondered verse 4 over the years and have been humbled by the concept of an all knowing, all powerful God paying attention to little ole me. In some ways it’s easy for me to become indignant or think how foolish those smart Harvard people are for discounting God. However, how often do I forget that (as Jerry has said) God is God and I am not? What would it look like if I believed, understood, and lived into the reality that the Creator of the Universe, whose name is majestic and echoes around the world, desires to know me and be in relationship with me? It’s certainly humbling and something to consider.

P.S. After I had finished reading the blog post I found, I scrolled back to the top to note who the author was so I could give him credit in my devotional. The writer was the Rev. Dr. Mark Roberts, ZPC’s 2018 All Church Retreat speaker. 

Prayer:

Creator of the heavens, moon, and stars, we praise your name! Thank you that you are mindful of us. We pray that each day we will grow more mindful of your greatness, your worthiness, and your love for us.
Amen

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