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David wrote many psalms during his life. He wrote about half of the psalms in the entire book. Some of them are familiar to us.
They are sincere, eloquent, and moving works of poetry and song.
There is a particular image of God you find in his psalms. It is God who is always thinking of us.
Take Psalm 139, for example.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:16, 17)
Who can forget Psalm 23? The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
There, he also wrote these words:
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5)
And in Psalm 8, which we read today, David makes this confession:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them? (Psalm 8:3, 4)
In the original Hebrew, the word ‘humans’ implies something fragile and insignificant. It was an intentional word choice.
Our existence is precarious. We are here today and gone tomorrow. As scripture says, our flesh is like grass that is strong one moment, then withers the next.
In the grand scheme of things, we are just one among many. From high up in the sky, we are just an indistinguishable mass.
The challenges and difficulties of life often remind us of this fact. When we are struck with an illness, when we go through failures, when we experience rejection, we feel small and insignificant.
Yet, even in the face of such reality, David saw that he was not forgotten or invisible to God.
Rather, he realized we are at the forefront of God’s thoughts. He saw that we are more important to God than anything else.
Yet you have made them a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honour. (Psalm 8:5)
My friends, even when you feel small, weak, and insignificant, God has not forgotten you. You are constantly in his thoughts. Even before you were born, you were in his thoughts.
We may forget God at times, but God is always thinking of us. You are everything to him – more precious than anything else.
Jesus came to give us that message. Jesus came to remind us of how important we are to God.
He didn’t just say, “Do not worry about your life.” He gave us a good reason not to worry about our life. He reminded us of our inherent worth.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26)
He also said something similar in Luke:
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:6, 7)
The fact that God is mindful of us means God pays attention to us.
It doesn’t mean that God thinks of us from a distance. Like a concept or statistic.
It means God is actively engaged with our life. God is attentive to us every moment. He knows exactly what we are going through.
No problem of ours is trivial or stupid to him. God cares deeply about our situation.
Earlier this week, I was a little down. My niece left to go back to Dubai. She was here for around 2 months.
I loved spending time with her. She brought me so much joy. When she left last Sunday, the house felt very empty. I missed her a lot.
Then on Monday, Minji invited some of the KSM young adults for dinner at her place. While we were eating, one person shared how she was sad earlier that day because she missed the dog she had been looking after for someone the past week.
I thought, how interesting. But I didn’t share. I didn’t think it was that important.
Then after dinner, we had this Korean ice cream. I didn’t know this until after I started eating, but every package had a little writing on it – like a fortune cookie.
So, I looked at mine and it said:
너는 소중해 (You are precious).
It was a surreal and strange moment. I felt as if I was seen by someone.
In that seemingly innocent message, I sensed God’s thought for me. Better yet – it became a seed for this week’s reflection.
We are all precious to God.
It is not a cheesy sentiment. It is the fundamental truth about ourselves. I hope you don’t brush it off. No matter how young or how old we are, it does not change.
When we experience even a glimpse of how much God thinks of us, our existence comes alive. God’s unconditional attention toward us makes our life radiant, especially in our troubles.
God’s attention is like the sunlight that gives life to the growing plant. It restores our dignity and gives us the confidence to face our life’s challenges.
In the same way, the greatest gift we can give to others is our attention. That is what it means to think about someone else. We hold them in our heart. Just like how God relates to us.
It lets them know that they matter deeply to us. Our attention crowns the other with glory and honour. Our life has to be an extension of this attitude.
Recently, our church sent some funds to Cuba with Rev. Dora. Much of it will go towards purchasing solar panels to help run the water purification systems more effectively. Some will be seed money to support the pastors who are doing so much, and yet live on very little salary.
Since then, we received so many messages of thanks. It wasn’t just about the money. All those messages of gratitude had something in common.
The simple gesture made them feel that they weren’t forgotten.
We’ve been preparing for Sioux Valley mission. We had a prayer meeting yesterday morning.
The heart behind our mission is simple and straightforward. It is to let our Indigenous sisters and brothers know that we are always thinking of them. That is the most important thing.
And last week, we had our first service of the year at Evangel Hall. I heard it was a meaningful time for everyone.
On the surface, it could have seemed like a dinner service where people came, ate, and left. But with your attentive presence, those who came will have felt like they were seen and cared for.
Today is the first Sunday after Pentecost. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God empowers us to carry on the important ministry of thinking of others.
Church is not a business. Church is a community of people with their own stories, situations, and struggles.
No one is too small or insignificant to be overlooked. Each person is precious and important.
I pray that we may be a people that cherish and value one another as God does with us.
May all we say and do reflect God’s thoughtful heart to those around us.
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