Dominion, a crown of honor and an identity with purpose

As I hope you’ve read in my last post (click here if you haven’t read it), there’s a function we have as His created image bearers, but God didn’t just give humanity the function, He shows how it flows from our identity. I want to deepen that thought, building on the creation account with a Psalm, Psalm 8 in particular.

In Psalm 8, David expresses God’s great love for us in that, despite being so tiny in comparison to the immensity of God’s creation, God thinks about us, having crowned us with glory and having invited us into His purpose for His creation. In the ESV, it reads, “…(4) what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
(5) Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
(6) You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet…” (Ps. 8:4-6 ESV)

Interestingly, Psalm 8:6 doesn’t use “rādâ.” It uses “māšal,” another Hebrew verb meaning “to rule, govern, or exercise authority.” Psalm 8 is essentially reflecting on humanity’s Genesis 1 vocation. Notice the movement:
God → humanity → creation
God possesses ultimate authority.
God gives humanity a position of honor.
Humanity consequently exercises authority over God’s works.

That’s why the next words are significant: “the works of your hands.” Creation remains God’s creation even while humanity governs it. We are honored to join Him in His divine work, precisely because He created us to do so! What a privilege! Don’t water down the identity He’s given you to a simple care-taker, although that’s part of it. It’s more than that. He has a divine purpose for His creation, and you have a place in the rule of that creation, having been created as an image bearer of God. As an image bearer, we have a unique value that is imparted to every human. This is worth mentioning again because it’s gonna be vital in the application in the next post. But for immediate consideration, I challenge you to ask yourself, “How am I doing with the position of honor I’ve been given? Am I embracing the dignity and appreciating the honor the Creator has breathed into me as His image bearer?”

Yes, the image has been marred and, yes, the image bearer and the creation bear a distorted identity because of sin. But that leads me to the next post, so stay tuned!