Psalm 8:3-4 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;… 1. The meanness of man, and his unworthiness of the regard and affection of the Most High God. Whenever mail singles out one of his fellow creatures with peculiar regard, it is on account of some amiable or useful quality he supposes him to possess; his powers to entertain and communicate pleasure, his benevolence of disposition, his strict integrity, or his ability to grant protection and to confer benefits. These form the ordinary basis upon which esteem is built. There must be suitableness and correspondence between the persons allied in friendship. In vain, however, shall we look to these several sources of esteem to account for that regard which God has been pleased to entertain for man. When we survey man, and compare him with the Divine Being, there appears everything which would tend to break the bonds of union. I do not here set before you the intellectual meanness of man, or the scanty and limited nature of his powers and faculties; though these might seem an insurmountable obstacle to union. There are more serious obstacles to an union between him and a Holy God. Man is a depraved and sinful as well as a weak creature. There prevails in him not merely a darkness with respect to spiritual things, but a dislike to them. It must be admitted, indeed, that there are remains of dignity in man which sometimes break forth and show his original. To know what man is, we ought not to consider of what he is capable under circumstances peculiarly favourable, but to look at him as he generally is. 2. Contemplate the nature of the great and glorious God, and judge how unlikely it is that He should be "mindful of man," or visit him. How little are we acquainted with the Divine nature. Though we cannot tell what He is, we can say what He is not. Consider a Being who, full and complete in Himself, needs no addition, and feels no want, a Being who knows all things, embraces the past, the present, the future, in one comprehensive glance. All nations before Him are nothing. "Wherein, then, is man to be accounted of?" Then the peculiar attribute of God is holiness. How abominable, then, is man, who "drinketh in iniquity like water"! God is just. Will not this form an eternal separation between man and God? True, when we consider God only in the light of the most benevolent of beings, and man in the character of the most wretched, we may discover some reason why God should thus regard and visit His creatures; for there is an attraction between benevolence and misery. But then mere benevolence could be supposed to extend only to the relief of absolute necessity, or deliverance from immediate danger. No principles of common benevolence are sufficient to explain the gracious acts of God to man. Consider, then, the nature of God's benevolence. 1. "Mindful of him" is not merely opposed to "forgetting him." God cannot forget any of His creatures. The word means, God keeps man constantly in view, ever watching over him, and never ceasing to do him good. 2. "Visit him." This expression supposes more than mere care or providence. It implies a degree of union and regard which may well excite our surprise. A man is said to visit another when he comes to him in order to cultivate friendship and love. Illustrate by God's coming to dwell in the Temple at Jerusalem; by the incarnation of the Only-begotten Son; by the providential dispensations of God; by gracious support and comforting in the trying seasons of life. (John Venn, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; |
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