In the majestic world God created, he has given us responsibility

By Dean Collins

It might happen while staring at the Grand Canyon. It might happen when watching a sunset over a gulf, lake, or ocean. It might happen while driving through the mountains or stopping at a vista. Or it might happen as you stand in the dark on a clear night and consider the stars and planets above you. And you wonder and maybe pray quietly, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him. . . .” God’s handiwork stirs our hearts to see his majesty and our smallness in comparison.

With just a few poetic and prophetic lines, David tells the creation and redemption stories. Almighty God spoke nature into being in ways that can bring a momentary gasp as we see his glory reflected in the world. And our majestic God and King reveals himself not only in the vastness of stars and galaxies; he reveals himself in the smallness and frailty of a child. We can ponder his strength and glory even in the babble of a baby.

Our responsibility

Even as fragile and small as we are, we have been entrusted with responsibility to manage the planet. David reminds us of what God declared at creation; we have been given dominion over land and sea, animal life and vegetation, to subdue and maintain them for our needs and for God’s glory. Our work of creation care is given by God to be lived out daily.

The writers of the New Testament Scriptures help us understand that even Jesus was given a human path. Born in simplicity and raised by parents of modest means, he experienced the same temptations, the same responsibilities, the same opportunities as everyman, yet did so without sinning and without selfishness. He showed us how to live with love for others and to practice grace, offer forgiveness, and live with humility. So much so that he took our sins to the cross that we might live eternally with God after we complete our work that lasts just a little while here.

His will

In many ways it doesn’t make sense, an almighty God giving us responsibility to care for his creation. After all, he knows well our weaknesses. He experienced them as Jesus walked the earth, even taking on the pain of death. But Jesus gave us a new picture of the circle of life. In him we experience resurrection—Forgiveness of sin now. Filled with his Spirit now. Resurrected now to live life a new way, his way, for a little while in these bodies, and later forever in our resurrected bodies that reveal God’s glory.

When Jesus spoke to us while here on earth he invited us to be a part of his kingdom and to join him in praying for his will to be done here on earth as it is in Heaven. As we look around, we certainly see evidence that we must pray this prayer more and work to fulfill this prayer day after day after day.

Our hope

The psalmist gives us not only inspiration but also hope in Psalm 8. He begins by declaring the majesty of God and ends with the same declaration. In the middle of the psalm, we discover our role to do the work God has entrusted us with while on this earth. In human weakness we live out our responsibilities of dominion over the world around us. But filled with his Spirit and transformed by the death and resurrection of Jesus, we do this work with the love of Christ, filled with the spirit of Christ, and for his glory until he comes again to restore all things and bring us into his very presence and our eternal home.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭8:1-9‬; Hebrews‬ ‭2:5-9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Photo by Gautier Salles on Unsplash

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