1. Great God and meager man
We reflect on Psalm 8 which is given as today’s lecturing part. The hymn was sung by the crowd in the forecourt of the Temple of Jerusalem. The choir took part first ; - O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1a) And a soloist followed ; - When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place. (Psalm 8:3) Then they sang the chant all together ; - O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!(Psalm 8:9)
The experience of the poet had led him to the faith and was shared with the community of believers. Thus they worshiped God together by singing the hymn. The poet felt existence of Great God by when he watched the moons and the stars. They had been made and placed by God in the dark sky. The poet was wondering at the power of God, the creator of the universe.
We, who live in today’s world, seem losing the sensibility of the ancient people. Surrounded with modern constructions, we easily ignore the beauty of the great nature. We can see few stars from light upped cities. Personally, I looked up the sky at night once in a desert in Australia. I cannot forget how impressive the view was. I really felt grandiosity of the universe. The experience must be similar to the poet’s.
He physically grasped the presence of God, the creator who always controlled the whole universe from behind. Therefore the poet sang ; - You have set your glory above the heavens.”(Psalm 8:1b) We also might be able to see incredible traces of God’s works in the sky. We will praise the eternal universe by looking up at the sky.
The poet did so ; - When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,(Psalm 8:3)
Ancient peoples worshiped the Sun and the Moon as gods, except the Israelite. The Jewish people were free from idolatry because they knew God and communicated with Him thanks to their ancestors, Abraham and Isak. Facing powerful God who created such a great universe, the poet wondered ; - What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:4)
“Man” in “What is man that you are mindful of him, ” is “מָה-אֱנוֹשׁ (eno-sh) ,” which means exactly “a mortal.” All human beings are mortal. We are predestined to die. And “the son of man” is “בן אדם(ben Adam)” which means “son of Adam. ” Adam was made with adama (dust). So the entire verse points out to the human nature as worthless as dust.
In general, Japanese life expectation is between 70 and 80 years. It seems rather long but, in the regard to the whole human history, it is like less than a second. Moreover if we consider the history of the universe it should be almost nothing. Nonetheless we always make a big deal out of our life. We worry seriously about what we will eat or drink. (see matthew6:25) Our concern focuses on worthless and temporary values, for example social estimation or wealth. And we live in competing for superiority with others. Such a lifestyle continuously generates jealous and conflicts until the last day of our life. We restlessly concentrate on petty and clumsy matters and ignore the beauty of the nature created by God, the stars in the night sky, for example .
The poet meditated the glory of God in contrast to humans. Nonetheless God loves such powerless creatures! So the lyric sings ; - You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: (Psalm 8:5-6)
Regardless of the poor nature of humans, God made them ruler over the other creatures. The poet was amazed by the fact and give thanks to God. The admiration is based on the faith shown in Genesis ; - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”(Genesis 1:26)
2. Double facets of human nature
It is true that humans who were made with dust and are worthless. All of us must become dust again after death. Nonetheless God chose such meager creatures as rulers of the whole world. The poet said that God placed them “a little lower than the heavenly beings.” The verse points up cleverly the other facet of human nature ; “God crowned him with glory and honor.” In sort, humans are at the same time glorious and petty. And if we cannot grasp correctly humans’ contradictory nature we commit big mistakes. For example, by forgetting the glorious aspect we risk losing dignity. As a result, those who despaired under certain circumstances killed themselves. Indeed, many Japanese commit suicide because they felt valueless and useless. But the Bible denies such understanding of life. It says that all of us deserve self-respect as a glorious one because we are placed “a little lower than the heavenly beings” by God. Or, in the opposing case, we ignore the boundary of human capability and become arrogant.
It seems that today’s scientists will reveal soon the mystery of the universe and secrets of genes through their technological and biological studies. Certain specialists even think that humans will arrive to manipulate life and birth. But, meanwhile, the same kinds of sciences were used to conceive weapons of mass destruction. Numbers of nuclear warheads, which could destroy several times the whole globe, had been already constructed. Modern humans are practically under the menace of total devastation. Nonetheless he poet tells to those modern humans ; - From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2)
The verse says that even sweet words of children and infants are powerful enough to overcome enemies. Because the little ones who live by totally trusting in God are strong in authentic sense. Thereby when we learn to surrender ourselves to God we will be as strong as those powerful little ones.
3. The breath of life for the man
To understand how the Bible defines the nature of humans, we will read Genesis 2:7 as today’s invocation verse ; - LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
The Bible tells that the man was named Adam because he was made with the dust of the ground.* It means that humans were as worthless as the dust of the ground. However God breathed into the man the breath of life. And Genesis says that the act dignified the man. We are not a mere physical existence but with spirit because we received the breath of life from God. In other words, without “the breath of God( רוח אלהים- divine air)” we would be one of simple animals.
The Bible says that humans can be humans only by believing in God. The human history is filled with conflicts and wars between countries or individuals. In contrast, animals don’t kill each other inside the same race. Moreover , they kill other animals only as foods. So, from a sociological point of view, we might say that humans are less advanced in evolution than animals. If so, it must be because we lost the breath of God, or the Holly spirit.
And those who lost God cannot establish the real peace. Peace in the present human world indicate merely a temporary situation without war. Such a state is maintained by domination of certain super powers. Strong countries hinder the weak from expressing freely what they think about or require. Pax Romana, for example, was possible only under the prevailing Roman power backed on military forces.
Therefore as the power of Empire waned the peaceful world was lost. Today’s world seems likewise. As U. S. loses ruling power we undergo international disorders, politically and economically. The peace in a secular sense cannot be authentic one even if it pretends to be. It has only deceiving appearance. The authentic peace, שלום(Shalom) can realize exclusively in accordance with biblical teachings. Humans can be in peace by admitting that our capability is limited and our life is totally gift of God and the Holy Spirit.
As long as we don’t recognize God, our personal relationship remains similar to international power balances. Besides our life fluctuates according to external circumstances or incidents. Even if we feel happy today, it is thanks to certain luck. If the luck falls we become immediately unhappy. A woman who married with gentile and rich husband and have a lovely baby must be happy. But if she is involved in in a traffic accident and loses the little one, for instance, she loses easily the happiness.
That way, we live in very fragile conditions. But if we recognize that we live thanks to God’s mercy, we can find signification of our entire life priceless, regardless of whatever happens. We can interpret them to be a gate which leads us to blessing. Because our lives are programmed by God who is willing to make us happy.
Thus we can understand any sad incident as the starting point of happiness. The Bible says that as long as we trust totally in God and follow the Holy Spirit our life will be authentic filled with blessed. ‘Convert’ is to turn our vision in order to get back our original existence into which God breathed the breath of life. And we receive baptism as a symbol of the conversion with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Then the life won’t be influenced by external vicissitudes anymore. Our soul can stay always calm and peaceful regardless of temporary circumstances. Life is then stable and solid.
The poet of Psalm 90 sings ; - You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men."For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning - though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.(Psalm 90 :3-6)
Those who know God are never arrogant because they know their powerlessness. It was God who made them ruler over the works of his hands. God put everything under their feet. Prophet Isaiah tells ; - But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; … Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. (Isaiah 43:1-4)
Those who know God know God’s love. Therefore they will never lose hope. I present now the life of Mr. Mizuno Genzoh, a Japanese christian poet. He had been totally paralyzed from a severe fever in childhood. He couldn’t even speak till his death at 47 years old. But at least he could move his eyes. And he arrived successfully to write poems by sending signals to his mother with eye-movements. She noted then down by referring to a Japanese alphabet configuration picture. I read here one of his poems:
— In the great palm of God’s hand / An escargot walks as it can / A dayflower blooms as it can / In the great palm of God’s hand / I live as I can.
He didn’t consider his life as miserable. Instead, he thought that he could meet God thanks to such harsh physical conditions. He was happy with the given life which he lived as he could. God gave him the wonderful motivation to live. Or those who are financially poor can be spiritually rich if they receive God’s blessings. By knowing God, we will live free from anxiety of uncertainty in future. We will live a life as we can in accordance with God’s will, as Psalm 8 teaches us. The poet was wondering at first ; - What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
But he understood and gave thanks to God ; - You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: (Psalm 8:4-6)
Now let us also give thanks to God for the poem, a wonderful gift for us.
* The Hebrew for man (adam) sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for ground. Adamah it is also the name Adam (see Gen. 2:20)
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