Psalms of the Summer: Creation - Before We Speak

I really enjoyed teaching Science 6. There were units on space (usually the favourite unit of all 4 we would study). In fact, it’s one of the main units I remember of my science in elementary school, then there was flight (another favourite, I remember racing paper airlines in our elementary gymnasium at school, electricity, and living things. Living things was usually the bottom of the student’s list of favourite units, compared to space, flight, and electricity, except there was one project we would do which would intrigue them and they would have lots of fun with. They would do a project where they would present to the class on a cool or crazy animal adaptation, and they would discover some pretty nifty ones to share with the class, some of which I had never heard of.

Here are a few examples,

Pufferfish, also known as blowfish, are easy targets for predators. They are slow and easy to spot in the ocean. However, if a predator gets too close, the pufferfish can ingest water and air very quickly, making them several times larger than their normal size. And if the newly huge pufferfish doesn’t scare a predator away, the pufferfish’s poison will do the job. It releases tetrodotoxin, which makes them taste bad and can kill a larger fish.

You may know that bears hibernate during the winter, as do snakes, groundhogs and bats. But did you know that wood frogs can actually freeze their blood during cold seasons? Wood frogs are the only frogs found north of the Arctic circle, and thanks to an antifreeze-like chemical in their blood, they can stop their hearts and form ice crystals inside their body. They then awaken from this hibernation state when spring arrives.

You may have heard of a lizard regrowing its tail after losing the original tail to a hawk or cat. But did you know that some amphibians can regenerate other limbs, including jaws or even retinas? Newts and salamanders are the most talented amphibians when it comes to regeneration, and are able to escape certain death by abandoning their old body parts.

With their tiny bodies and thin skin, African spiny mice seem like the perfect prey for desert animals. But the thinness of their skin is actually an effective adaptation that allows these mice to heal almost immediately. While other mice may die from injuries after a bout with a fox or owl, African spiny mice heal much more quickly than any other mammal. They are able to regenerate skin tissue itself, as well as hair follicles and fur, rather than replace it with scar tissue.

Today is our first, Psalm of the Summer. Historically, the Psalms were read daily and the entire psalter - all 150 Psalms were prayed regularly. As Webster writes, “The Psalms are the ‘magnetic center’ not only of the Wisdom Books but of the entire canon, the Bible. The Psalms celebrate creation, the exodus, and the tabernacle and priesthood. The prophetic message of the coming of the Messiah is contained in the Psalms, as is his suffering, ascension, and judgment of evil. The Psalms echo every part of salvation history, and their inestimable value does not stop there.”

Athanasius writes, “But in the Psalter, besides all these things, you learn about yourself. Your find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries. Moreover, whatever your particular need or trouble, from this same book you can select a form of words to fit it, so that you do not merely hear and then pass on, but learn the way to remedy your ill.”

I love the raw emotions found in the Psalms. It was one of the books that helped me realize how much God can handle our full, unfiltered hearts. In the Psalms, we see David and other writers cry out in fear, anger, sorrow, joy, and overwhelming praise. There are Psalms where David is celebrating God’s goodness with dancing and music, and others where he’s deeply broken, questioning why God feels so far away. There are moments when he boldly declares his trust in God, and others when he confesses his sin and pleads for mercy. The beauty is that all of it—every high and low, every raw, aching word—is brought honestly before God. It taught me that I don’t have to edit myself in prayer. God doesn’t ask for polished performances; He invites real relationship. The Psalms have shown me that no emotion is too messy, too dark, or too complicated for God to hear. In fact, He meets us right there—in the middle of it all.

And so I thought we would take a journey with the psalms throughout God’s story, starting with the beginning, the story of creation. While Psalm 8 is not the only psalm related to creation, nor probably the most well known one for creation, it meant a lot to me as I was reading it. It is the first song of praise in the Psalter. The end of Psalm 7 states, “I will sing praises to the name of the LORD Most High,” and that’s exactly what the next Psalm does in Psalm 8.

This Psalm opens and closes with praise. O Lord, our Soverign, how majestic is your name in all the earth. O Lord, written as Yahweh, the personal name for God revealed to Moses with Sovereign, in reference to a king. This opening and closing statement is declaring God, as king of all the earth, God’s universal rule.

Verse 2 then continues with “Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.” The pairing of military images and children is striking. The Psalmist is showing that God is so powerful that He can use babies as the first line of defense; that is, God turns weakness into strength. Paul reminds us of this in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” So often, we want to shy away from our weaknesses. We try to hide the parts of ourselves that feel broken, ashamed, or not good enough—maybe out of fear that they disqualify us, or that God will be disappointed. But this Psalm reminds us that God can use everything we bring to Him. Not just our strengths or our polished prayers, but our pain, our failures, our fears, and our doubts. He doesn’t turn away from our weakness—instead, He meets us there with compassion and grace. When we are honest with God, we give Him room to do what only He can do: redeem, restore, and work through even the most fragile places in our hearts. In His hands, nothing is wasted. Our weakness becomes a doorway for His strength to shine through, reminding us that it's not about having it all together—it's about trusting the One who does.

This brings us to the message of Psalm 8 found in verses 3-8, in which small and helpless human beings are made “only slightly less than divine.”

I will read these verses again “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.”

When I would teach space, we would talk about our galaxy, the vastness of it, and beyond. How cool is it with the sun at the very center with the planets orbiting it. The earth being the only one close enough but also far enough away for humans to live on, at exactly the correct degrees. All of God’s work of His fingers, the moon, and the stars.

Have you ever looked around you and thought how incredible is God’s creation. I was writing parts of this message one evening when Mark and I needed to take one of our vehicles to drop it off at the mechanics for its inspection the next morning. We took the dog with us so we could walk home, but it was on the drive to the mechanics that I noticed this beautiful red ball in the sky. I told Mark, I needed to look more closely at it on the way home so we walked to the trail where I could see it better and it was the sun a brillant beautiful red ball in the sky. It reminded me of so many miraculous things we get to experience from God’s creation. I remember when Mark and I were together in Wolfville just after a late night fire call he awoke me to come outside so that I could see the Northern Lights which were on display, and then this past year we took another drive to Baxters Harbour to see them, but it was on our way back through Canning when we really got to see the Northern Lights dancing across the sky.

Then a couple of months ago I was talking to a friend I met at ADC who was from a country in Africa closer to the equator. It was a warm day and she commented on how much hotter some of the days felt here compared to home as it was relatively stable temperatures all the time there. It was hotter here with the humidity, but that she had never experienced the beauty of the seasons. Something we may take for granted, but with the changes of temperatures comes the miraculous changes in the colours we are surrounded with from the new birth in the spring, the continued growth in the summer, to the changing colours in the fall, to the dead of winter, creating dormancy so that we get to experience the opportunities of new birth all over again. It was only when she moved to Canada that she was able to experience and see this within God’s creation.

Think of all those cool and amazing animals and their adaptations for survival that my students discovered. The vast universe, God’s wonderous, miraculous creation. The Psalter states, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than God.

Humans, made just below God, dominion over the rest of God’s creation. So often, we want to shy away from our weaknesses. We try to hide the parts of ourselves that feel broken, ashamed, or not good enough—maybe out of fear that they disqualify us, or that God will be disappointed. But this Psalm reminds us that God can use everything we bring to Him. Not just our strengths or our polished prayers, but our pain, our failures, our fears, and our doubts. He doesn’t turn away from our weakness—instead, He meets us there with compassion and grace. When we are honest with God, we give Him room to do what only He can do: redeem, restore, and work through even the most fragile places in our hearts. In His hands, nothing is wasted. Our weakness becomes a doorway for His strength to shine through, reminding us that it's not about having it all together—it's about trusting the One who does.

As it says in Genesis 1:26–27 “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Hear what it says in Hebrews 2:5–8 “Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,”

Sound familiar. And it continues in Hebrews 2:9–11 “but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,”

The psalmist's question in Psalm 8 is filled with awe—how could the Creator of the universe, who set the stars in place, care so deeply for us? It’s a humbling and beautiful truth: we matter to God, when we don’t think we’re good enough, God considers us, as humans, greater than the rest of his miraculous creation. Hebrews 2 takes this even further. It reminds us that God didn’t just think about us from afar—He came close. Jesus took on our humanity, shared in our struggles, suffered, and died for us. The same God who crafted galaxies stepped into our world, all because He loves us that much. These passages together show that we are not only seen and valued—we are worth pursuing, redeeming, and lifting up. It’s a breathtaking reminder of our worth, not because of who we are, but because of who He is.

When we look at the mountains, the oceans, the galaxies spinning in space—it’s overwhelming. The universe is vast, beautiful, and complex. And yet, out of everything God created, He chooses to be mindful of us. Not as an afterthought, but as His image-bearers. Not distantly, but personally. Think about that: the same God who breathed stars into being also breathed life into you. He knows your name. He hears your prayers. He walks with you in your ordinary days. That kind of love should leave us in awe. And it should also leave us with a response. If the God of the universe cares that deeply for us, how can we not respond with our lives—our worship, our obedience, our love?

Even more astounding is this: not only does God consider you—He considers every human being on this planet just as precious. Every person, regardless of where they live, what they've done, or what they’re going through, bears the image of God. That means their worth exceeds even the most breathtaking mountain or the most distant galaxy.

That’s how God sees humanity, Jesus showed this in everything he did as he walked this earth, and that’s how we are called to see humanity. God doesn’t see borders or nationalities when He looks at this world—He sees souls. He sees His children. And if we are to reflect His heart, we can’t let man-made divisions define our compassion.

This truth demands more than just awe—it calls us to action. If every person carries the image of God, then we must stand for those whose dignity is ignored. We fight for the oppressed, we care for the homeless, we walk alongside those battling addiction, and we speak up for those silenced by injustice. We don't do it out of pity—we do it because they are valuable. Because God is mindful of them too.

So before we speak, may we pause and remember the image of God in the person before us—whether they are hurting, angry, different, or difficult and may we remember the image of God in each one of us. May our words to each other and to ourselves be shaped not by judgment or fear, but by the same love and dignity that God extends to each of us, for we are all God’s creation.

Benediction:

So as we leave today, may the wonder of God's mindfulness stir something deep in you—not just a sense of personal worth, but a sense of holy responsibility. Let’s reflect the heart of a God who sees, loves, and lifts every human soul. The God who made the universe is mindful of the hurting, the overlooked, and the broken—and He invites us to be His hands and feet in their lives.

Go, then—not just in awe, but in compassion. Not just amazed by God’s greatness, but moved by His love for all.

Amen.