Patterns of praise

"What is man, that you remember him, and the son of man, that you visit him ? ... O Lord our Lord ! That thy name is beautiful in all the earth !" Psalm 8: 4, 1

"O LORD ! What is man, that you take notice of him ? ... the son of man, that you take account of him ... O God ! I will sing to you a new song ; I will celebrate you on the ten-stringed lute." Psalm 144. 3, 9

David, the author of the two psalms quoted, poses two questions which lead him to very similar conclusions applicable to the Christian of today.

In Psalm 8, David is amazed in contemplating the wonders of creation. In his day, we do not have the means to scrutinize the universe ; Yet creation, by its beauty and immensity, proclaims the eternal power and divinity of the Creator God (Romans 2:19, 20). The Word abounds in descriptions of the details of the creation, from the majestic cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which leaves the wall (1 Kings 4:33). And was not man created wonderfully (Ps 139: 14) ? These verses are intended to establish the greatness of God's works and the magnificence of His name, so that we may restore His glory to Him (1 Chr 16: 26-29).

David's astonishment at God's interest in man is found in Psalm 144 ; However, this time it is the feeling of man's frailty, his insignificance, the vanity of his life, his inability to escape from slavery, which brings the author to the same question. Moreover, if the Word is rich in descriptions of nature, it does not abound in presentations of the condition of man: a worm (Job 25: 6), a grasshopper (Isa. 40:22), A shadow, grass (Ps 102: 11), a breath (Ps 78: 39), and a vapor (Jacobs 4.4). And yet, in spite of its smallness, man is the object of the love of God, of his grace and mercy. God therefore sacrificed his Son, Jesus Christ, to make every believer his child and a worshiper capable of expressing his worship by a "new canticle."

The smaller we are before God, the more he grows in us !

Source (To pleasing the Lord)