Nothing but men

Put them in fear, O LORD, That the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah – Psalm 9v20

Mankind tends to think that it is really something. From the earliest days man has thought more highly of himself than he ought to think. On the plains of Shinar man decided to build a tower to make a name for himself. Man is still a tower builder. We build great cities. We conquer illness. We explore every corner of the earth, dive to the deepest depths of the oceans, and fly to the furthest expanses of space. We have certainly made a name for ourselves.

One of the problems with this is that men forget all about God. Mankind outgrows Him. The evolutionary process moves beyond a god-need. Man decides that he can just kill God off.

That is where man tends to find himself.

But man forgets one thing – man is nothing but man. He is not God. He cannot replace God.

The psalmist’s prayer nails it. There is only solution to man’s perception of his own god-ness. Man needs the fear of God. The fear of God comes in many ways. Sometimes man does wake up to his need of God until app the props are taken out from under him. Sometimes the fear of God comes from seeing Him work in a mighty way. Either way, man will not see his man-ness until the fear of God allows him to see God’s God-ness.

Our prayer for those we love should be that God will allow them to experience the fear of God so that they will see thy are only men.