As I reflect on God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, I am struck by my existence, the reality of the existence of others like me, and the structure and the beauty of the world we inhabit together. My awareness provokes the question David asked of God in Ps 8:4: “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” 
 

The question compels me to look upward. I am arrested as I contemplate the moon and the stars which he has set in place, and the very heavens which are but the work of his fingers (Ps 8:3). I project my thoughts beyond to God himself...the LORD...who has set his glory above all these. There is nothing between him and his creation, and nothing above him. It all begins and ends with him and him alone: God, the God of Israel, “sovereign over all reality” and the eternal Father, “the Creator and Author of all things” (J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, p. 83). 

He is not a cosmic magician who fashions out of that which already exists, nor is he a cosmic emanation, for nothing existed before him save him alone. Out of nothing, he creates. He is God the LORD...self-existent, changeless, everlasting, almighty. His works exhibit his unlimited power. These are his heavens and his earth. His ownership is uncontested, for “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance” (Is 40:12)?

 He is the Almighty Creator who called into being the universe, and then, by his Spirit, hovered over the earth like a mother bird, attentive, caring, cherishing, protecting, lovingly preparing to give it shape and life...for whom? ”What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” The question presses once again. I return to earth, and my reflections dissolve in awe and amazement. “Yet you have made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps 8:5). “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far” (2 Sam 7:18)? Who am I, indeed? Yet to him, I am everything...crowned with glory and honor? How can this be? I cover my mouth, I give tearful thanks to God the LORD...my maker and my friend...and I lean on the top of my staff, and worship.

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Blessings,

Arnie Gentile                              

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