Sermon on Psalm 8 and 19, for Thanksgiving Eve, "The Glory of God's Creation"

Psalm 8: ¹ O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. ² Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. ³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

Psalm 19: ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. ² Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

It would be impossible to overstate the glory, the perfection of God’s handiwork, how much speech and knowledge are revealed about God by His creation. The heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon and stars, set in their place, and this earth, our home. Impossible to overstate the sheer testimony of God’s greatness revealed in all these things, and how miraculous our life and existence is. Johann Kepler, the Lutheran astronomer who helped identify the correct motions of the planets, described science as “thinking God’s thoughts after Him”—perhaps reflecting on Scriptures such as Psalm 8 & 19. It’s sad, on one hand, that so many scientists pursue the knowledge that pours out of the creation, without seeing the Creator who made that book of knowledge, much less turning to the book of His revealed Word for even greater knowledge of the Creator. But on the other hand, their discoveries unwittingly continue to declare how awesome are all His works, even when they themselves won’t give God His due.

Faster and faster, science is uncovering the bewildering complexity of life and the material universe. Hundreds upon hundreds of textbooks are filled with that knowledge. But it shows how much we take for granted, even to simply exist, to sit here and eat or sleep or breathe or think, and to live in a world where discovery is possible, and where nature is comprehensible and rational. Scientists who don’t accept a Designer don’t expect nature to make sense in that way, but nevertheless it does. So they try to conjure explanations that rule God out, rather than accept the obvious.

On this Thanksgiving, I would like us to reflect on some of the gifts of creation that make that life, discovery, and a rational universe possible. Gifts we might not even have known, or simply take for granted. Here are some examples of the incredible goodness that God has written into the very fabric of creation and the universe that should inspire our awe and thankfulness:

• Everything in the universe is made up of atoms, and the forces that hold these together are so finely balanced that if it were infinitesimally stronger or weaker, life would not be possible. If stronger, we would either get no hydrogen, fundamental for life; if weaker, than none of the other elements needed for life. So many other constants in our universe are so finely tuned in this same way, and only recently have scientists begun to fully understand how amazingly precise these balances are, and how the slightest variations would make life impossible.
• The force of gravity—greater or lesser by even the tiniest fraction, and again, no life would be possible. Worlds would be crushed or would fall apart.
• If our atmosphere was not the exact right composition to allow the controlled combustion of fire, humans could never develop technologies utilizing metals and creating plastics, ceramics, glass. Without fire, almost all the cooking, utensils, technologies, electricity, transportation, and countless other items wouldn’t exist. Also require the right kind of flammable fuels to create fire. Our closing hymn sings praise and thanksgiving for “wood” in the first verse. Who remembers to give thanks for wood? But without fire, where would we be? Earth’s gravity needs to be strong enough to hang onto oxygen, but too weak to hold onto hydrogen, or we couldn’t have fire.
• Right balance between animals and organisms producing CO₂ and plants producing O₂ to supply each other. We have the right kind of sun that produces the right kind of light, and the right kind of atmosphere that allows that right kind of light into earth, that is the right band of energy for plants to produce energy by photosynthesis to give food and energy to almost all life on earth.
• The earth is just the right distance from the sun to allow liquid water—too close, and it would all burn off, too far from the sun, it would all freeze. Either way, no life. Water is an amazing molecule that is vital for life—carrying all the things we need to live, but not too thick or thin (viscosity), and is very stable (not reactive). Slightest variations in the chemical properties of water and blood couldn’t circulate through living creatures, cells couldn’t work, we wouldn’t be able to moderate our body temperatures, or even the temperature of the planet would swing wildly.
• A moon of the right size to create tides to circulate the waters of the oceans and prevent stagnation. A super stable sun (rare in the universe) that doesn’t have deadly and frequent radiation bursts that could overwhelm our magnetic field, and gives us the right amount of heat and light favorable for life.
• A magnetic field that shields us from dangerous radiation that is steadily produced by the sun and throughout the universe. Life in outer space is deadly and harsh. Life on earth is supremely fit for life to thrive and exist.

These are just a tiny fraction of countless examples, all of them and many more that are necessary to our life and existence. Designed by God, all these realities of nature continue and operate without so much as our second thought. But now knowing all this reasons to give thanks for God’s gracious provision are multiplied. Truly the Psalmist’s words are profound today as ever: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? ⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

It’s a vast universe we inhabit. The more we discover, the more we realize how truly special our earth is in the midst of it all. Staggering, how infinitesimally small we are in the grand scheme of things, but how privileged a place God has given us. Like the Psalmist we wonder why God is mindful of us, that He cares for us. It’s easy to imagine with such a vast universe, that we should be forgotten, or of no importance. But to the contrary, God has so loved the world, that He gave His only Son. God so loved the world—in other words, we are the people of His special affection. And God gave His Son. How? By sending the Son of God to be born on earth as a Son of Man.

So actually, according to Hebrews 2, these verses from Psalm 8 are about Jesus: “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? ⁵ Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. ⁶ You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” At the same time that it speaks of the loving care and attention of God, it also shows the miracle of the incarnation, that Jesus is God in human form. And according to Hebrews 2, Jesus was made lower than the angels for a little while, but now is crowned with God’s glory and honor because of the suffering of death.

Why did God care for us in this way? Why did God humble Himself in this way? Hebrews answers, “so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” God’s care and providence for His amazing creation is the first miracle. But the second and greater miracle is His loving and amazing redemption, sending Jesus to save us from our sins. Every day we see the sun, the moon, the beautiful stars that declare God’s handiwork, and this earth and all the many features that make life possible. Every day give thanks. And God given us our life so that we might also hear and know of His grace and love for us. So that by the grace of God, Jesus would taste death for us, so that we could have eternal life with Him. Every day give thanks!

If God only gave us life on this earth, that would be a great blessing indeed. But not only this, God preserved us so that He could give us eternal life. As grand as life on this earth can be, so also is it greatly impoverished by the suffering, disease, death, and disaster that often falls on earth, because of sin. But God has overcome that in the gift of Jesus, His dear Son. God is making a new heavens and a new earth, His gift to share with all who believe in Jesus Christ. God our Great Giver is ever multiplying our reasons to give thanks, with blessing after blessing. ⁹ O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Amen.