As exam season begins and as pride month continues it may be tempting to look to academic success or your sexuality for your identity. Psalm 8 helps us to look somewhere else.
It’s a wonderful God focussed Psalm, beginning and ending with the majesty of God. It is in looking to the God of the Bible that we can discover who we are, that we are first of all creatures! We have been made by almighty God, that gives each and every single person dignity. Your value doesn’t come from how well you do in your exams, or in how you identify or how others treat you, your value comes from being made by God and made for a purpose.
When you look at the vastness of creation, the enormity of the world, and then to the solar system, and then to the universe, you may start to feel small and insignificant. But as David looks up and sees the moon and the stars, he is struck by the fact that the one who made all of this is interested in little old me! It is mind-blowing that the creator of the universe should care for us! Yet this is what David teaches, and what his great grandson taught us when he said:
“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 6:27)
What a remarkable thing, that God cares for us! That’s something we surely need to remind ourselves of, whether we’re sitting exams, struggling to make ends meet, struggling with identity or some other pain.
Not only does God care for us, but He has also given us purpose. He’s made us to rule over the world! Now this could either lead us to pride or despair, but God intends neither. He wants us to know that He’s made us for a purpose which involves ruling over his creation, but under His rule. This gives us dignity, and releases the pressure, since he is still in control. And as we look at the world, we may well conclude that everything is not under our control. We see war, and famine, natural disasters and poverty.
The book of Hebrews agrees! In Hebrews 2 we are told that we do not currently see everything subject to man, but we do see Jesus and because of His obedient death in our place, he’s been crowned with glory and honour, and everything is under his feet, he reigns over everything, and in the
new creation we can share that rule with him.
As the exams start, as pride month continues, don’t find your value in your exams or your sexuality, but find it in being made by God, loved by God, and redeemed by His Son who will one day make all things new.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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