Your place in the Story
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 1:13PM 
What do you do with the following verse?
"What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [angels] and crowned him with glory and honor." -- Psalm 8: 4-5
Don't most of us feel at home with the first part of this passage ("What is man that you are mindful of him?") and feel reluctant to indulge the second half ("You have made him a little lower than the angels")? It's more natural for us to reason, "Why should God care about a person like me? Compared to the glitter of a meteor shower in the night sky or the thundering roll of ocean swells, I'm nothing. Why would God give me much thought?
Perhaps it's more acceptable to embrace our smallness. It can be a helpful perspective to know our place in the cosmos. But this is exactly my point -- I think we've seriously misunderstood our place. We must not take the first part of the passage without the second: "You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor." Angels are quite magnificent, fearsome and untarnished beings who serve as God's Special Forces behind the veil. And that veil is thinner than we think. These creatures bear a terrible beauty themselves; and are able to gaze daily upon the fierce and blinding light of the Light whose face we have not yet seen. Not yet.
And God would place us small and enfeebled humans only a little lower in the cosmic order than these whom He shares his direct and unveiled company? Is it possible we are more important in the Story than we thought? -- Possible that a regal stature has been bestowed upon us, a position in a Kingdom, in which we are to take up our crown and act like kings and queens?
In order to arrive at the answer, we must know that our original commissioning was, in fact, to rule:
"You made him [humanity] ruler over the works of your hands:
you put everything under his feet..."
Isn't this the commissioning of Adam and Eve? Isn't their kingly and queenly authority over the created order exactly what they gave up and gave over to their Enemy?
And perhaps we need to be reminded that the Psalm writer here is expressing a pre-redemption view of humanity, prior to the restoring work of Christ through the Cross and Resurrection. If general humanity, even denigrated and blackened by sin, carries within it the memory of the Maker's intent, than how much more would humanity, redeemed and resurrected to life, glimmer in its restoration? Hasn't something just like that already happened; something beautiful and substantial within our inmost being? Isn't this our newness?
In our redemption through Jesus, we not only receive the forgiveness of sins; he has won back for us the regal authority we so easily gave up. He wants us, once again, to rule as benevolent monarchs and queens; to give us back the crown. Discipleship is learning how to reign, to bring to bear our regal capacity within each of our spheres of influence in order that the creation is released from its groaning waiting, and humanity may once again eat of the tree of life. It is the gracious rule of love, wisdom, and restoration to which we are summoned.
You are no longer common: behold your crown. You are no longer ordinary: for you've been ordained.
And Aslan gave the children each a new name:
- Peter will be known now as, "King Peter the Magnificent."
- Susan will be called, "Queen Susan the Gentle."
- Edmund will be known as, "King Edmund the Just."
- Lucy will be called, "Queen Lucy the Valiant."
And you, regal friend, what name has He given you?
Reader Comments (3)
Jim,
This is beautiful! The regalness of our smallness...yet bigness in the heart and eyes of the One whom Created all things...our Father!
I loved this:
"God would place us small and enfeebled humans only a little lower in the universal order than these whom He shares His direct and unveiled company? Is it possible we are more important in the Story than we thought? Possible that a regal stature has been bestowed upon us, a position in a Kingdom, in which we are to take up our crown and act like kings and queens?"
And this...
"...carries within it the memory of the Maker’s intent, than how much more would humanity, redeemed and resurrected to life, glimmer in its restoration?"
And I loved your references to the characters in the Chronicles of Narnia, along with the beautiful question: "And you, regal friend, what name has He given you?"
Blessings,
~Amy :)
http://amyiswalkinginthespirit.blogspot.com
I want to respond here to my own post because I'm a bit conflicted. Some of you know that the verse "a little lower than the heavenly beings (or angels) can be rendered, "a little lower than God."
I choose to go with the "little lower than the angels" version, but realize that it may lead to the conclusion that humans are not as esteemed in the Kingdom as angels. I don't believe this to be true. Humanity is, in fact, the pinnacle of God's creation, and redeemed persons are the recipients of his Holy Spirit. This cannot be said of angels, no matter how glorious and privileged they may be.
So -- bottom line of the post, be stubborn in your refusal to think less of yourself than your Father has made you. And...ask him what your new name is.
Hey Jim, your writing is excellent and the points in this really are great! I've been thinking about similar things lately and was reminded that the enemy of our souls doesn't want us to know that we are to rule over all of creation and he being a 'created being' is part of that creation. When we stand in this life and take autority over all of creation "in Jesus name" it puts our enemy (and the circumstances he throws at us) where he/theybelongs in our lives... under our feet. He doesn't want this knowlege to be in the minds of man. I appreciate your heart and depth of understanding God. Your way of writing is a gift. Thank you!
Bill