Lord, What Is Man That You Think of Him?
“LORD, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.” (Psalm 144:3-4)
Last Friday, we celebrated the 34th anniversary of Victory Presbyterian Church, where I serve, with a special preaching service. God, through the guest preacher, delivered a message on "the grace of salvation" based on Ephesians 1:3-14. After hearing the message, I reflected on the grace of salvation from the Triune God, and in my prayer, I recalled the verse I had meditated on previously: Psalm 8:4: "What is mankind that you are mindful of them..." And I confessed to God: "Lord, what is man that you love him so? Lord, what am I that you bestow such grace of salvation upon me?" Later, after the early morning prayer service, I reflected again on the words of Psalm 144:3-4. Especially, I want to focus on the second half of verse 3: "What is mankind that you think of him?"
In my opinion, no matter how much a married couple loves each other, I do not think that they think about each other countless times in a single day. I wonder if it’s even possible to think about each other more than a thousand times in a day. Perhaps no couple ever thinks about each other ten thousand times. Even for a couple who think about each other often, it’s certain that they cannot think about each other all day. How could they possibly think about each other while they sleep at night? Of course, even if their spouse appears in a dream, it doesn't mean that the entire night would be filled with dreams of their spouse. It is evident that when a couple loves each other, they think about each other from time to time. However, God's thoughts toward us are not occasional. The reason is that God, who loves us, never slumbers or sleeps (Psalm 121:4). Additionally, because God is eternal (Isaiah 40:28), His thoughts toward us are eternal.
Psalm 139:17-18 speaks about God's thoughts toward us in this way:
"How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you."
The Bible tells us that the number of God's precious thoughts toward us is more than the grains of sand. How can we count the grains of sand? We don’t even attempt to, because the number is too great. Human capacity is insufficient to count them, and that’s why we don’t even try. The Bible tells us that God's precious thoughts toward us are innumerable. But what is even more astounding is that God, with all these countless thoughts, turns toward us, human beings, who are like "a breath" and whose "days are like a fleeting shadow" (Psalm 144:4). Just as a shadow disappears when the sun sets, and a breath vanishes instantly, our lives are brief, and our days are like grass (Psalm 103:15). So, why does the Lord think about us so endlessly? Isn’t it because He loves us?
Our thoughts toward God vanish when our breath ceases, and we return to dust, and on that day, our thoughts also perish (Psalm 146:4). But God’s thoughts toward us, which are like a breath or a shadow, will never vanish. They cannot. The reason is that our God is eternal.
I cannot understand how this eternal God, who loves us humans—who are like a mere breath and a passing shadow—thinks of us countless times, and that, in order to save us, He sent His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to die on the cross. Why did the eternal Son of God, Jesus, come in human form and die on the cross to save a sinner like me? I cannot comprehend this grace and love. Therefore, I can only pray to God in this way: "Lord, what is man that You think of him?" "What am I that You consider me?"
"What is this, that You, my Lord, died for me, and suffered such great pain for someone as lowly as I?" (New Hymnal 143, verse 1)
Pastor James Kim
[“He bore all my sins and was nailed to the cross. What is this, what grace is this? How great is His love!” (verse 2)]