Psalm 144:3-4 (NIV)
LORD, what are human beings that you care for them; mere mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.
How much attention do you pay to ants? They are tiny little creatures who rarely have a direct impact on your life. Most male ants only live for a few days, while worker ants live a few weeks to a few months and queen ants may live for multiple years. They are here and then gone. Poof. Nobody notices. Nobody grieves. Nobody cares.
Relative to a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful God, David saw himself and the rest of mankind as ants…which is why he was so amazed that God paid any attention to mankind at all. Do you ever see yourself in that light? The God who created space and time with his intellect alone, knows every single star by name (there are estimated to be over 70 sextillion, by the way, which is 70 thousand million million million), and holds absolute authority over all of it…knows YOU intimately. He knows how many hairs are on your head, how many burdens are on your back, and how many sins are on your ledger. Not only does God know every detail about you that there is to know…but He cares, and cares deeply. David certainly had it right when he pondered, “LORD, what are human beings that you care for them; mere mortals that you think of them?”
In his own pondering, Spurgeon noted that, “The Psalmist’s wonder is that God should stoop to know him, and indeed it is more remarkable than if the greatest archangel should make a study of emmets (ants), or become the friend of mites. God knows his people with a tender intimacy, a constant, careful observation: he foreknew them in love, he knows them by care, he will know them in acceptance at last. Why and wherefore is this? What has man done? What has he been? What is he now that God should know him, and make himself known to him as his goodness, fortress, and high tower? This is an unanswerable question. Infinite condescension can alone account for the Lord stooping to be the friend of man. That he should make man the subject of election, the object of redemption, the child of eternal love, the darling of infallible providence, the next of kin to Deity, is indeed a matter requiring more than the two notes of exclamation found in this verse.”
Who do you love the most? Most likely your list begins with your spouse, then your children and extended family. From there you add your closest friends. As you move out from the center of your circle of relationships you know less…and care less. Not that you don’t care when some tragedy befalls someone you don’t know very well, but that tragedy does not add significant weight to your life. Not so with the God of our faith. His deep and eternal love extends equally to every human that has ever lived. His knowledge of each and every person’s life is equally as amazing, as is the price he was willing to pay to purchase our forgiveness. He has no need of us but wants us anyway (Acts 17:25). His judgment on us for our sins is fully warranted but he would prefer to shower us with his grace and mercy if we would but believe (2 Pet. 3:9).
The sparrow is the most populous bird on earth, with a population too numerous to accurately count…yet the Bible teaches us that not a single one of them falls to the ground without God’s notice (Mt. 10:29). If that is His level of notice for a small animal not made in His image nor an object of his divine interference, how much more does He think of, consider, and care for you? Like David, we should all take the time to ponder that most amazing reality.
