Crowned With Glory and Responsibility

“You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” (Psalm 8:5–8, NIV)

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 

Heavenly Father, this statement always catches me off guard. After you’ve opened my eyes to the greatness of the universe and the smallness of myself, you tell me you’ve made us a little lower than the angels. Why? You’ve crowned us with glory and honor. Why? We’re so small and weak in the grand scheme of things, but you still give us dignity and glory and honor. It’s amazing. 

Father, I guess I’m amazed because I think I have to earn glory and honor myself. I think I need to make myself big and important to receive dignity and honor. Yet, you’ve taught me something different. I don’t have glory and honor because of anything I’ve done. I have dignity and honor because you’ve given it to me. I have glory and honor because You—the highest, most glorious God—have made me this way. It’s not about me. It’s about what you’ve given me. So, Father, I can do nothing but praise you. 

You made them rulers over the works of your hands

Father, along with the honor and glory given to us, you also give us responsibilities. You have placed us as rulers over your creation. That’s an intimidating task. How can we ever rightly rule over this massive creation? We’re like ants trying to rule over a shopping center. 

Then, to make things more intimidating, this is YOUR creation—the work of YOUR hands. It’s not like we’ve been put in charge of the neighbor’s cat. You have placed us in charge of the creation that You made and love. It seems like an impossible task. 

Yet, Father, I know that you haven’t left us alone in this task. Once again, this isn’t about us. You’ve given us the honor and glory to fulfill this task AND you will give us the strength, wisdom, and glory to accomplish this task. So, like always, we should never rely on our own strength and wisdom as we rule over Your creation, we should more fully rely on you.  

You put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Father, I know that some don’t like the way this is worded. Some have twisted this passage over the years to justify abusing your creation. They say that everything has been put under our feet to be used for our purposes. Yet, that’s never what you’ve taught, is it? You’ve always taught that your people do not use their authority to “lord it over” anything. You’ve always taught that with authority comes servanthood. 

So, Father, help me rightly rule over and serve your creation. Help me not to worship them in idolatry. Help me not to abuse them in idolatry. Rather, help me use, and rule over, Your creation for Your purposes—to bring You glory and honor.