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!
~ Psalm 8 (NRSV)
I'm including here another version of Psalm 8. This is from the Message Bible. And I'll tell you what I like about it more...
God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.
Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.
God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.
Why I like it more is in that last longer paragraph.
We are made stewards of sheep and cattle. We are put in charge of God's handcrafted world.
When God gives dominion, that doesn't mean we have the authority to do whatever we want with creation, despite what humanity seems to believe.
To be a steward is to manage or look after someone else's property: in this case, God's property.
To be stewards of God's good earth means that we are to care for it - it is a gift that God has shared with us.
It is not something for us to exploit or control.
What would it be like to live each day knowing that this planet we inhabit is a gift?
A New Year seems a good time to reflect on the good gift of creation: to reset our relationship with our home.
I wish you a very New Year, and I pray that you have many wonderful encounters this year with God's beautiful creation.
The earth is yours, Lord, and I am grateful that you share this beautiful gift with us. Thank you! Amen
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