Fulfilling Our Destiny

What are mere mortals that you should think about them,

human beings that you should care for them?

Yet you made them only a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and honor.

You gave them charge of everything you made,

putting all things under their authority. Psalm 8:4-6

WHEN THE PSALMIST wrote Psalm 8, we sense he was looking up and marveling at the sky and the world all around him. But more than that, he was filled with wonder as he considered that God had put humans in charge of his creation, intending that we would fill the earth and subdue it.

Unfortunately, something went wrong with this original creation. That’s what the writer of Hebrews acknowledges when he quotes Psalm 8, reminding his readers that the Fall kept us from fulfilling our original destiny. “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him” (Hebrews 2:8, ESV). Humanity is supposed to rule the earth, but in reality, we are subject to this cursed creation in dreadful ways. Sin ruined everything; nothing is the way it was created to be.

But that does not mean that God’s original plan for humanity has been abandoned. When we look around, we see that what Psalm 8 describes about humanity being crowned with glory and honor is not true of us. But we have reason for hope: “We . . . see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death” (Hebrews 2:9, NIV). Through our union with Christ, we fulfill the destiny originally designed for us.

The world, and even some corners of the church, tell our children they must work hard and dream big to fulfill their destinies. But in Psalm 8 we discover the destiny that matters. This destiny becomes a reality, not through hard work, but by saving faith.

Lord, as we consider the destiny you have in mind for the people you created, we realize this is what we want most for ________. We don’t want ________ to settle for the glory and honor that the world offers. We want ________ to be crowned with the glory and honor that come from you. As ________ is joined to Christ, ________ takes hold of the destiny you have in mind for all of your people —ruling and reigning with you in a new heaven and new earth.