Created in His Image - Psalm 8

Recently I heard a sermon preached on the importance of remembering that Christians, "God's workmanship," (Ephesians 2:10) need to understand that we are empowered by God and should expect His favor to be on us. According to the speaker, we should expect the blessing of God upon whatever we try to do as ministers.

The sermon was in the context of speaking to present and future ministers of the Gospel and his point was that we should expect God to bless our ministry. While he was mostly true to the text he used, I believe this particular preacher was reading it with a false understanding of the whole of Scripture.

Of course it's true that we are God's workmanship and that we are creatures made in His image, but this should not be cause for us to think that God owes us anything or that we are guaranteed to be blessed by "success" in whatever we choose to do. The speaker I heard didn't say that explicitly, but his point, I think, came dangerously close to going down that trail. His point was that we should not be content to live with the same circumstances as the rest of the world. His implication was that because we are followers of the one true Lord of the universe, we should expect more.

I'm not saying the guy was a heretic, I just hope people understand that God is totally in control of everything. God's definition of "success" is usually quite different from ours. That means that if we are experiencing times of great blessing or hard times, God's in control. It may be hard, even impossible, for us to understand, but He's in control. I think specifically of two people as examples of this in my life: my friends Jean Ray and Theresa Norris. In both of their cases, it's really hard to see the good that God has planned.

Mrs. Jean is basically stuck at home with 2 broken legs; Miss Theresa recently found out she has liver failure and needs a transplant. Both situations are terrible and yet both of these women are examples of God's mercy and love. While they are going through miserably difficult times, both of these women have been forgiven of their sin and will spend eternity in the presence of a loving, merciful, just, and holy God. No matter what happens to them in this world, no matter how bad or how hard it gets, they both trust in Jesus Christ and will therefore spend eternity with Him. The God of the universe who spoke everything into existence is the same God who's involved in our lives at all times.

This is what makes the fact of Jesus' life so amazing. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Immanuel, God in human flesh, came and walked the earth in real human history. He was, and is, a real human person. He was crushed according to the Father's will, according to Scripture, and he really died; He didn't merely fall asleep. Three days later He was raised from the dead, a full bodily resurrection and subsequently ascended to heaven. Now, He sits at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for us.

There really is a place called heaven. It's not just a place of enlightenment in our minds or some dreamed up "Atlantis" in the clouds. When Jesus returns, to claim his bride, all who trust in Him as their Lord and Saviour will be in His presence forever and ever, Amen.

Likewise, there really is a Hell. It's not just a place we talk about to make children "act right" in public. There really is a place of "outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 25:30. Being totally given over to our sin in eternal separation from God is a terrible place to be...a place where none of us will want to be but where every one of us deserves to be.

In thinking of our place in God's creation, I think Psalm 8 gives a great description of God's glory and how everything has been created for the purpose of His glory. Specifically, verse 4 points out that while humans have been crowned with God's glory and majesty, and are made to rule over His creation, we don't deserve His grace in the least.


1 “O LORD, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength
Because of Your adversaries,
To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
4 What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth!”
Psalm 8

May you know Him better and worship Him continuously.
Grace & Peace

Casey