Psalms 8:3

"When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers,

The moon, and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man that thou art mindful of him?

And the son of man, that thou visitest him?"

"The work of thy fingers." The use of "fingers" here instead of hands, which we might have expected, suggests that it was no great difficulty whatever for God to have created the heavens and the earth and everything within them. God merely spoke the Word; and it was done!

"The moon, and the stars." These words surely originated with one who was familiar with the night sky, as David most certainly was. It is inconceivable that any man in full possession of his mental faculties can look upon the magnificent glory of the night sky without being conscious of the existence of God and of man's constant need of his love and favor.

Our English word "consider" comes from two Latin words, "con," meaning "with" and "sideris" meaning "stars." Surely a careful look at the starry heavens is an awe inspiring and challenging experience.

"What is man that thou art mindful of him?" "The word here rendered "man" means "frail man," Humanity in all of its weakness and limitations."[6]

The infinite contrast between man's smallness, his unspeakable insignificance in a physical sense and the glory that God has lavished upon him is the burden of this incredibly beautiful Psalm. What is man in a physical sense?

"Amidst the vastness around me, I am lost, and can be of no more consequence than a mote in a sunbeam. If I and all my generation were swept away in the twinkling of an eye, we should be no more missed than a grain of dust blown into the crater of a volcano."[7]

However that is only part of the story; and the far more important part of it is explained this way:

"In man's insignificance is lodged a Divine spark; and, lowly as is his head as he stands beneath the midnight sky blazing with inaccessible lights, that head is crowned with a halo reflecting the glory of God even more than the luster of those billions of stars!"[8]

"The son of man." This is only a variant for "man" in the preceding line; but the reason for human dignity begins to appear in these lines. (1) God indeed is mindful of him; (2) God has actually visited him. What an incredible honor is this? "The Dayspring from on High has visited us"! (Luke 1:78), shining upon us who sit in darkness and the shadow of death! But that is far from being all of it. The very next verse stresses other incredibly tremendous reasons why God is mindful of his human creation.