Psalm 8
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Tis the season of open houses. I never know what card to get; so I looked up some funny ones and these were my favorite. (Cards shown on the screen)
Maybe you’ve been to a few open houses already or have a couple still to come. On Monday, Katelyn and I went to one for a high school senior. He’s a remarkable young man. He excelled in academics, athletics; spiritually and socially he’s mature beyond his years and I have every confidence that he will excel in all that comes his way, no matter what it is. At his open house, he had a Bible open and invited folks to highlight a verse or two as a note of encouragement for him as he heads to college.
People had already highlighted the traditional, go-to passages: “For I know the plans I have for you,” “I can do all things through Christ”, “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid”, “Nothing is impossible with God”. I thought about being a smart aleck and picking some obscure, random story; like the attack of the she bears in 2 kings, or Ehud killing King Elgon while on the toilet, but I refrained. In fact, I wasn’t sure which verse or verses to pick.
It made me wonder, What advice do you offer to the over achiever, and to the underachiever, for that matter? What do you say to the highschool graduate entering the workforce, to the one going to college, or to the college graduate? For many, if not most, graduates there is so much to look forward to; a “the world is your oyster” type of moment. Yet at the same time, it’s appropriate to look back and bask in all the accolades and accomplishments. To relish in them, if only for a moment, and to feel proud about all that’s been done.
Yet, in the back, or possibly the front, of most graduates' minds, even if they know exactly what they are doing, are all sorts of questions: How hard is this going to be (whatever ‘this’ is’)? What do I need to do to start the career I think I want? What internship or scholarship or degree must I have for the profession I want or to make the money I want or to have the status I want? How will I measure up in this great big world?
What they don’t tell you at graduation or in your first year of college or in the first year of your job, (or at least what I don’t remember being told), is how easy it is to feel lost in it all, to feel like the world is too big, the challenges too great, your not doing as well in school as you had, or you aren’t producing at work as much you hope or as much is demanded of you. Amid all the change both in and around you, you begin to see the vastness of this world, and you ask yourself, “What am I doing? Who am I?”
The psalmist asks a similar question in Psalm 8. Now David didn’t write the Psalms attributed to him, but we can imagine a young David, a shepherd, keeping watch over his flock by night. And as he lay in the grass, David stares up into the heavens and sees the work of God’s hands, brilliant shining stars, the moon in all its grandeur. And in the vastness of it all, the psalmist wonders like the graduates “what are human beings that you Oh God are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”
In other words, how could I, this single, seemingly insignificant soul, in the midst of this ever expanding universe, on this one planet filled with other people, smarter people, stronger, more productive and effective people, how could I possibly matter? This isn’t a question that only graduates or the psalmist wrestle with, but one that all of us have at one time or another. How is it that God thinks and remembers me? Who am I that God would care for me?
This question is asked in other places in the Bible. Bildad, one of Job’s “friends” gives an answer saying we are nothing but worms and maggots. Later the Psalmist will say we are grass that simply fades away. Neither are verses to highlight for a graduate.
But here, here the psalmist says something completely different. Here the Psalmist says God has made you a little lower than God’s own self and has crowned you with glory and honor.
You are worthy, you are loved, you have dignity, you have power even; not because of what awards you’ve won, what degrees you’ve obtained, or what work you’ve produced, but because God has bestowed them upon you as a child of God, made in the image of God. You are loved and you are enough, just as you are.
It sounds so simple and yet scandalous. It’s not what our culture screams at us, and it might even be a little offensive to some. In our society today, we have been told and bought into the lie that our worth depends on our work. That we are what we achieve. And while it is true that work can give value and dignity, meaning and purpose; It is always secondary to the work and word of God, who created every human being in Their own image, inherently bestowing value and dignity and love and purpose upon each person first and foremost, completely independent of someone’s work or production or success. You are loved and enough just as you are. Full stop.
Perhaps we see this best in the creation story. God worked six days, creating humanity on that sixth day and called it very good, the first and only time God does that. The next day God rested. That in and of itself is remarkable. Rest had not yet been created. Up until now, it was only work, evening and morning, creating around the clock. But on the 7th day, God rested.
What then is the first act of humankind on the seventh day? Rest, not work! God invited them to join in this divine rest, to look around not at all they had done, not their production or work or success. But to see all that God had done, and to bask in it’s goodness. The first gift God gives creation isn’t work or a task, but rest, grace, love. It’s the gift of knowing that apart from what we do or do not do, we are given glory and honor by our Creator.
The word, the advice, the hope, the encouragement I want to share with that graduate who’s open house I went to, with the overachiever, the underachiever, the graduate thrilled about the job they’ve landed, the one scared to death because they’ve landed nothing,
the one with endless awards, and the one who received none, and the word I have for retirees struggling to feel worth apart from their work, or those unhappy with the work they have, or those laid off from work, is simply this: you are loved and you are enough just as you are; you are crowned with glory and honor, because God made you so.
Maybe that will be on a graduation card some day. Amen.
