Worship the Creator, Not the Creation - Psalms 6-8

 Psalms 8:5-8 (ESV)

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

There is a philosophy today about the earth and creation.   People want to worship the creation and not the Creator.   People want to honor “Mother Earth” as though she were a god we are to submit to in reverence and honor.   In fact, the entire global warming movement, however true some of their facts may be, is world-wide worship of God’s creation BY man.   However, the above passage states that earth and all creation was created FOR man.   In fact, note the original Genesis account on what God’s intent was for the earth and mankind in it:

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

The Genesis account in in line with the above passage from Psalm 8.   God made man and crowned him with “glory and honor.”  He then put man on the earth to have dominion over all God’s works.   Christians should be in full agreement that creation is under our stewardship.  We should be doing everything possible to honor God’s gift to us.   But, we should also remember, that God did not put us here to worship earth.  He put us here to subdue it and to care for it.   We are not subservient to the animals of this world.  They are NOT our equal.   We should care for them as all men should care for “beasts” (Proverbs 12:10).   The movement in our society portrayed through politics, movements, groups and media (especially the movie industry), is that we are equal to creation and should “share” the planet with them.  We are not better than the planet and creation.   Although there is something to be said about the concept of “sharing” the planet with what God created, there should be no mistake that God put us here to rule and not co-habit on the same level as the rest of creation.  Why does this matter?   Because it is man that God redeemed.   God sent His Son to shed His blood to pay for man’s sin.   We do know that the earth groans for redemption:

Romans 8:19-23 (ESV)

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

All creation will one day be set free from the impact of sin in the world.  But, it is mankind who has been giving dominion, privilege and stature in the world today.  As much as we are to steward what God gave us, we are to do so, not to worship God’s creation, but to worship the Creator and what He gave us:

Romans 1:24-25 (ESV)

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.