Monster Meditation: Psalm 8

1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

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

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:

7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!



I'll work a retro-active thought summary on Psalms 5-7 another day. But this one is so good, and I meant to have it up on Friday, so I'm going with it.

This Psalm hit at the right time of my theological labyrinth. This is the aspect of God I prefer to spend more time on. Even though there vengeful, wrathful characteristics exist, Psalm 8 present how,I think, we are to experience God. I will continue to try to work out the hard core side of God, but this is the God I see when things are sailing smooth, that is to say, when I'm being the kind of person I'm supposed to be.

This psalm holds one of my favorite lines in scripture. Verses 3-5 are beyond astounding to me. The first thing that thrills me is the image I get of God creating with His fingers, like he finger painted the universe into existence (may explain the blotchy character of so many nebulae. But on top of that, all of these things that an artist may love, he looks at us--little more than snowmen made of mud--and He gives us everything. As I contemplate the sacrifice of Christ and how I should treat all those around me, this is the idea that rises to the top of my thought pool. Regardless of how many things that so many people do, they are held higher in God's eyes than I can imagine any of us deserve.

Bad Eyes

I had an eye exam yesterday. Like any exam, there's nothing too fun about them, but this one was especially irritating. My eyes are worse then they were last year. It's a frustration I don't know how to deal with. Since 5th grade, I've had glasses, and my eyes have been in decline ever since. I had thought they had leveled out by now (haven't changed prescription in quite a few years). Part of my thought processed went over the idea of going entirely blind. I don't expect it any time soon, but what if it did happen? What would I miss the most? Sunsets? Sunrises? Blossoming trees? My cats doing stupid stuff? My wife? To think about it, it all would be unfortunate. The mundane would appear fantastic if one had never seen it. I suppose I would have to look to my other sense. What would I indulge in. I love music, but if hearing became my primary detection device, would I want music on much? Unfortunately, the other sense don't seem to be set for detection as much as experience enhancers. There are too many things that you wouldn't want to experience first by touch (fire, ice, swords, sharks) or smell (farts and pickles). I don't think it's even possible to taste most things as a first experience ("Oh, here's the lamp!").

I think of the people healed in Scripture and look to the day when I won't need stupid contacts to see. That will be sweeter than anything I can imagine.

Sun It Rises.

First day of school, officially. I drove in around 7:10, the earliest I've left the house in a little while. Even when I did leave this early, the sun was still coming up early enough that I didn't get the whole sunrise is amazing feel. Today I got to experience that again.

I love sunsets, and they seem to carry more charm and romance, but the sunrise has a bonus. When the temperature is in the mid-60s, a low-lying level of mist ducks between the houses as I drive over the 27th street bridge, and the sun blankets the city in a sherbet hue. With every breath, life reaches farther down my body until it taps my left toe and my body shudders. The gray skitters to nowhere and is gone, and the clouds divide the sun into beams as strong and majestic as the Almighty. And Heaven is on the horizon.