What is Man that God Regards Him? - Psalms 143-145

 Psalms 144:3-4 (ESV Strong's)

3 O LORD, what is man that you regard him,

or the son of man that you think of him?

4 Man is like a breath;

his days are like a passing shadow.

What is Man that God Regards Him?

If you talk to man you would think that man is the center of the universe.  That is certainly true for my kids in junior high and high school.  They believe the world centers around them.   When have you seen a high school graduate NOT obsessed with themselves?  That, of course, flows onto adulthood and we find people of every sorts who believe they are the THING.   In the above verses the writer of this song confesses a completely different frame of mind.  He regards man as very low and simply wonders out loud, why does God even consider man?  The writer (King David) certainly knows the story of man’s creation.  He knows that God created man and gave him dominion over all the other aspects of creation.   David knows that my is significant to God since it would be through David that God would send a Messiah, His only Son, to redeem man.  He knows that God so loved the world that He planned man’s salvation from the beginning of the world.  But, this is exactly why he writes what he writes.  He is saying to God, “Why on earth would you do all that for man? We are so lowly!  We are but a breath and a passing shadow!!”   What we see is David looking through his own lens and realizes he has no worth, except that God “regards” him.  Remember, this is the same David who committed adultery and conspired a murder.   This is why David thinks the way he thinks.   David knows that man is not worthy of God’s gracious acts of kindness (which is what this psalm is about).  David knows he is the prime example of his own thoughts about man’s unworthy nature.  Yet, God does love us. Yet, God does think of us.  Yet, despite our flaws, God is gracious to us.   We can rejoice that God takes more than a brief moment to “regard” us.  In fact, God watches over each of His children moment by moment.   God actually regards us and thinks of us each moment.