Thinking About Love

In the past week, Love has been on my mind.

My sister-in-law shared an interesting article which discussed the difference of 'self-love' and 'God-love'.

Self-love 'involves loving someone by wanting to be them and thus, wanting to have what they have which leads to: Object love/ idealization, which is when you love someone by idealizing them as someone worth having' which leads back to Self-love because ‘what one “has” elevates what one is,’ meaning to love and to be loved is fulfilling who you would like to be .... through who you have ... that one loves out of the interest of ultimately pleasing oneself....we break up with our beloveds when they fail to make us feel good about ourselves – they never spend time with us or they’re too clingy, they say hurtful things or they get easily hurt, etc. etc. ......

I hope that we don’t seek to serve Him to make ourselves feel good. We shouldn’t love God because what we learn about Him and put into practice in our daily lives might nurture our self. We should love God simply because He first loves us..... Following Christ won’t always make you feel good.... the way to love God and still escape the ‘self-love concept,’ is to serve Him even when it doesn’t make you feel good, even when you face obstacles that invite misery to your life. Loving God involves trusting that He is worth the suffering that you experience as an effect. C.S. Lewis says, “To love involves trusting the beloved beyond the evidence,” and I pray that I won’t rely on ‘evidence’ of God’s love for me (i.e. making me feel good about myself) in order to trust Him.

It crossed my mind how often we hear the 'I love you' dialogues on TV. In fact, almost every movie and sitcom have exhausted the typical 'I fell in and out of love', 'failure to commit to loving someone', 'what is love enigma' scenarios that the dialogues are all too familiar. I thought about some of these typical scenes and realised that it is always about Me, Me, Me. Self-love, just as described above. I did a quick search online for the definition of Love out of curiosity and the results really surprised me:

"strong feeling of affection"

"a great interest or pleasure for something".

"deep affection or sexual love for"

"like something very much"

I have never directly considered how different the world's view of Love is to that of a Christian's. I mean I grew up with the TV as well as hearing about 1 Corinthians 13 in abundance as I'm sure a lot of non-Christians do. Many of them use 1 Corinthians 13 in their weddings too. But it is only until today that I have given this a serious pondering.

I looked up 1 Corinthians 13 immediately.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

What strong statements about the ultimate supremacy and importance of love!

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

What a stark contrast with the popular worldview. How deep and opposite is this type of love as opposed to the selfish love we are so used to hearing about. Reading and rereading this passage just fills me with awe and humility. I think it would be really difficult not to agree wholeheartedly that this must be the definition of Love because it is so perfect. The definition is so touching that it reaches deep into my heart and my spirit can't help but recognise that this is True Love.

1 John 4: 8 then says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

God IS Love.

My mother-in-law shared a video clip this week with us on a question asked to Ravi Zecharias about why God doesn't stop gun-triggers i.e. sufferings. His answer was astounding and like all things truthful, reached deep into my heart.

"I would say this to you, that the supreme ethic that God has given to us, is the ethic of Love. It is the peak of all intellectual and emotional alignment, this thing we call love which places value upon the other person of worth and as something to be protected."

"It was interesting that of all people, it was Oscar Wilde, on his death-bed in his 40s, with his lover by his side ‘Robby Ross’, he turned to Robby and said “Did you love any one of those little boys for their own sake?” It was an incredible question to ask, by a man who was a hedonist, on his death-bed, in his 40s, and he said “Robby, did you ever love one of those little boys for their own sake?” and Robby Ross said “No, I can’t say I did”. He said “Bring me a Minister, Bring me a minister.” And it was in his magnificent poem ‘the Ballard of Redding Jail’ that Oscar Wilde said “only Christ was big enough to cleanse his heart and forgive him for all that he had done”. The point even the hedonist realised, was that in pleasure also, value and love are the supreme ethics that can be treasured." 

"But you can never have love, without intrinsically weaving into it, the freedom of the will. You cannot have love without the freedom of the will. If you are compelled by some machine to a certain decision, you can never love. You can ‘comply’ but you will never be choosing to express that sentiment and the reality of love." 

"Love is a supreme ethic, and freedom is indispensable to love and God’s supreme goal for you and for me, is that we love Him with all of our hearts, and love our neighbours as ourselves for him to violate our free will would be to violate that which is a necessary component for which love can flourish and love can be expressed. If you’re always asking for God to stop the trigger, why not God stop everything else? The next time you hold a cup of boiling water he makes it frozen water instead. Next time you’re about to cross the street and you’re gonna be hit, he pulls your leg back. What you’re asking for is a different entity than humanity. As wonderful as it may seem that in stopping that, you think He’s protecting you from that which is destructive. The greatest denial that you’re asking for is the freedom of your will to be able to choose and to love God with all your heart and all your soul."  

"You’ve got love as the supreme ethic and the freedom of the will to choose that love, all of the other contingencies come in and can become explained why it’s possible to either chose or to reject so that love can ultimately reign supreme. If you want compliance and some kind of a mechanical response, your question itself will self-destruct. You’re asking the question because you’re free to ask it, and you’re free to ask it because you’re free to love and when you love Him in spite of all the contraries that you see around us, you’re trusting Him for having the supreme wisdom and the knowledge to ultimately bring a pattern out of it all." 

"We think for example, we know SO much. This story is told in an eastern folklore of this man who lost his horse that ran away..."

Neighbour: “You know, bad luck isn’t it, your horse is gone”
Man:“What do I know about these things?” 

A few days later the horse came back with 20 other wild horses and........

Neighbour: “Amazing, it’s not bad luck, it’s good luck, you’ve got 20 more!” 
Man: “What do I know about these things?” 

His young son is out taming one of the new horses, that young horse kicks him and breaks his leg. 

Neighbour: “Terrible isn’t it? Your son’s leg is broken, bad luck that these horses came.” 
Man: “What do I know about good luck and bad luck?” 

A few days go by and a bunch of thugs are coming looking for recruits to join their gang and they’re looking for all the able-bodied young men and they’ve come to pick this young man but find out his leg is broken and they say, “We don’t want him, we’re going to move on to the next house.” 

Neighbour: “Good luck isn’t it that your son’s leg was broken!” 

In one little series of episodes, we don’t know what lies ahead. Why don’t you wait till you stand before God face to face and you will find out there were reasons why he didn’t stop that trigger, so that you will see the heinousness of evil and the majesty of love and good, managing to navigate yourself as a pilgrims progress to come to your celestial self.

1 John 3: 16: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

"The component of eternity does spell the possibility of explanation. Without eternity, the problem of evil remains totally unsolved. In fact, the question remains indefensible. Because God is able to restore life; eternity is able to bring ultimate justice. And we leave those two components in His hands."

7 Things My Newborn is Teaching Me

1. To appreciate the bare necessities in life such as sleep, baths and mealtimes. 

2. To discover the meaning behind the songs we sang from our childhood days in church. Singing hymns and children church songs to soothe the baby ends up being a worship session. Just that day, I was singing 'God is Good all the Time' and the words really touched my heart. My husband sang it another day and concurred. 

God is good all the time 

He put a song of praise in this heart of mine 

God is good all the time 

Through the darkest night, 

His light will shine 

God is good, God is good all the time 

If you're walking through the valley 

And there are shadows all around 

Do not fear, He will guide you 

He will keep you safe and sound 

'Cause He's promised to never leave you 

Nor forsake you and His Word is true 

We were sinners and so unworthy 

Still for us He chose to die 

Filled us with His Holy Spirit 

Now we can stand and testify 

That His love is everlasting 

And His mercies - they will never end 

 Though I may not understand 

All the plans You have for me 

My life is in Your hands 

And through the eyes of faith, I can clearly see.... 

 3. To trust that God is in control and everything becomes a prayer. Being first time parents, there are endless worries and daily challenges. Learning new vocabulary like colic, cradle cap, Moro reflex etc, one can easily get overwhelmed. Most times, praying with the baby is the best thing to calm our frazzled nerves.

4. When there is nothing we can do to help the baby, just being with him through the struggles and loving him is helping.

5. To rely on God's grace and not my own failing strength. How frail and feeble we are.

6. To enjoy 4am devotional time. The two verses I have committed to memory in the past week:

James 4:14: Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (Therefore, live for God's glory.)

Romans 8:28-29: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

This verse is often quoted out of context...most of the time ending at 'for the good' or 'of those who love him'. We miss out the key phrases which I underlined as a reminder to myself. He has called us to be like His Son. Things will work out for good and the good being that we will be like Christ one day as He finishes His work in us. Not the worldly good that we may wish upon ourselves like good health, steady income or perpetual humanly blessings. It is the reminder how frail our lives are and what Christ has done for us which will hopefully take me through the darkest nights and storms.

7. To realise that my son's deepest need more than anything in the world is to know the Lord and that the only thing that truly matters is that he comes to have a living relationship with God.

Tate Britain- The Romantics

This April Fools day was not foolish at all. Together with a friend, we decided to take a 20 minute sunny walk along the Thames and go to Tate Britain.

She decided to go for the Picasso exhibition while I decided to stroll along the gallery of the Romantics. She surprised me with a postcard of her favourite painting in the exhibition. So fascinating.

I spent the afternoon exploring the likes of Constable and JMW Turner. I only managed to go to 4-5 rooms in the end. With soothing music in my ears, I had one of the most enjoyable afternoons reading and delving into the paintings. I especially love paintings capturing nature and I lapped in Constable's Sketching from Nature. I was thoroughly fascinated by his depiction of the sea and the light hitting the waves. My favourite painting of all in that room was this. It looks much better in real life. The computer blurs the effect. I wish I could bring it home with me. I had the Narnia- Voyage of the Dawn Treader feeling of the sea flowing towards me. Ahhhhhhhh....

The ultimate work I fell in love with today was Constable's Cloud Study. He scribbled a beautiful, magnificent verse from The Farmer's Boy- A Rural Poem written by Robert Bloomfield which took my breath away.

Here it is:

With saunt'ring step he climbs the distant stile,

Whilst all around him wears a placid smile;

There views the white-rob'd clouds in clusters driven,

And all the glorious pageantry of Heaven.

Low, on the utmost bound'ry of the sight,

The rising vapours catch the silver light;

Thence Fancy measures, as they parting fly,

Which first will throw its shadow on the eye,

Passing the source of light; and thence away,

Succeeded quick by brighter still than they.

Far yet above these wafted clouds are seen

(In a remoter sky, still more serene,)

Others, detach'd in ranges through the air,

Spotless as snow, and countless as they're fair;

Scatter'd immensely wide from east to west,

The beauteous 'semblance of a Flock at rest.

These, to the raptur'd mind, aloud proclaim

Their MIGHTY SHEPHERD'S everlasting Name.

What a brilliant reminder this Palm Sunday of how amazing our Creator God is! 

Half-Empty or Half-Full? Straight or Crooked?

We have been refreshing the Border Agency website for weeks to book an appointment slot for my biometrics. For those who have experience with the UK situation, you will know the time, tediousness and expense that comes with the applications. As I was talking to my boss about this, he just mentioned, today you may be able to get on. I decided to do so. I got in! However, the paper with the ID required was left at home. Ying rushed home and managed to book the appointment. 

Friday came and we had planned to leave early and get there with 50 mins to spare as we were told to arrive 30 mins before the stipulated time. We arrived at the station to find that the train we wanted to take was cancelled. We spoke to the assistant and he directed us to the Overground service which needed an interchange. We ran so hard and we barely made it. After 5 minutes on board, the driver announced that there was a signal failure and that we were to remain there until he had further instructions which was indefinite. We sat there for 10 mins and decided to run for a bus. We ran again and missed the bus with the shorter route and there was not another one scheduled to arrive in the foreseeable future. We caught another bus. The driver happened to be really slow and we seemed to hit every red light and roadwork in London. There seemed to be people getting on and off at every single stop. 

We looked at the map and the stop seemed directly opposite the Border Agency. It ended up being past the Agency and behind 2 buildings in the opposite direction. We got off and started running as hard as we could. I could feel my legs and lungs giving way as dramatic as it sounds. We ran across the big road and tramlines as there was no pedestrian crossing in the vicinity as far as the eye can see.

I got there breathless and unable to speak. I just waved the appointment sheet at the guard and I made it through with only 5 mins to the stipulated time.

It's so easy sometimes to look at everything as a series of unfortunate events. Through various experiences, I have come to see stressful situations increasingly as opportunities to learn and put good principles to practice.

It is more than just adopting a positive attitude. In stressful situations, I realise that if you try to force calmness from the outside in, it probably will not stave the stress off for long periods of time. Also, this would probably mean that you fight fire and as a result, you would probably not be the type of person who would be recognise, be thankful and celebrate the good when it happens.

Normally when 'things go our way', we walk on without so much as a blink. Needless to say, stress is essentially what we feel when 'things are not under our control'. Trusting in ourselves as the only beings who can pull off the job/ make it/ do it right is really a heavy burden to bear. The struggle begins when you want to do away with the burden but do not feel secure enough to give it away/ have no one to give it away to. Burdens have a funny nature. They cannot disappear into thin air. They need to be offloaded- through a series of positive actions.

After I realised that stress comes because I can't control circumstances but want to, I knew that looking inward was not a solution. Sure, one could make oneself be positive but I for one, know I can't count on myself to be endlessly perceptive and receptive to life's curveballs. No, there's a more perfect Being I can count on. 

Looking back on it now, the graph of circumstances does not descend nor ascend. It curves. It would have been so easy to question WHY, grumble, SIGH, whine, COMPLAIN, be frustrated, IRRITATED, angry, WORRIED at the lower curves of things forgetting when the graph swings upwards. There is an additional unseen line above this which is constant and never-changing no matter how squiggly the line below gets. He is the Only one that can make our paths straight when we trust in Him and lean not on our own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5-6

  

Something to live by- The Farmer

THE FARMER

Without delay he's up each day

before the crack of dawn.

After breakfast, a kiss from his wife,

he yawns and pulls his work boots on.

Out the door he stands with pause

to smile at the gold-blue sky.

The rooster crows and the man steps off

with purpose in his stride.

There's livestock to feed and fences to mend,

till the soil and plant some seed.

His list of chores has no end

for there's a hungry world to feed.

This is what he's called to do

as steward of God's good Earth.

Like his father and the fathers before,

'twas passed to him by birth.

The sun has set and he's earned the right

to relax on his old back porch.

He shuts his eyes and breathes in the night

praying tomorrow he'll rise once more.

Psalms 9- Summary of Spurgeon Part 1

Verse 1
I will praise thee, O Lord.
It sometimes needs all our determination to face the foe, and bless the Lord in the teeth of his enemies; vowing that whoever else may be silent we will bless his name.

With my whole heart.
The words "With my whole heart," distinguish him from the hypocrites--the coarser, who praise the Lord for his goodness merely with the lips; and the more refined, who praise him with just half their heart, while they secretly ascribe the deliverance more to themselves than to him. I will show forth. it will not be casting pearls before swine if we make even the ungodly hear of the loving-kindness of the Lord to us.

All thy marvellous works.
Gratitude for one mercy refreshes the memory as to thousands of others. If we consider our own sinfulness and nothingness, we must feel that every work of preservation, forgiveness, conversion, deliverance, sanctification, etc., which the Lord has wrought for us, or in us is a marvellous work.

Verse 2
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
Gladness and joy are the appropriate spirit in which to praise the goodness of the Lord. Moloch may be worshipped with shrieks of pain, and Juggernaut may be honoured by dying groans and inhuman yells, but he whose name is Love is best pleased with the sanctified gladness of his people.
I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.
Songs are the fitting expression of inward thankfulness. We should do double the work which can be done if we be crushed and trodden down in soul. As the evil spirit in Saul yielded in olden time to the influence of the harp of the son of Jesse, so would the spirit of melancholy often take flight from us, if only we would take up the song of praise.

Verse 3
My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you.
We must be careful, like David, to give all the glory to him whose presence gives the victory.

Verse 4
For you have upheld my right and my cause; you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.
One of our nobility has for his motto, "I will maintain it;" but the Christian has a better and more humble one, "Thou hast maintained it." It is a rich comfort to remember that he who sits on the throne knows our hearts, and will not leave us to the ignorant and ungenerous judgment of erring man.

Verse 5
You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
God rebukes before he destroys.

Verse 6
Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished.
In the light of the past the future is not doubtful. Since the same Almighty God fills the throne of power, we can with unhesitating confidence, exult in our security for all time to come.

Verse 7
The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment.
The eternity of divine sovereignty yields unfailing consolation. Are we not to understand the swiftness of divine justice. In heaven's court suitors are not worn out with long delays.

Verse 8
He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.
Heaven's throne ministers judgment in uprightness. Partiality and respect of persons are things unknown in the dealings of the Holy One. How the prospect of appearing before the impartial tribunal of the Great King should act as a check to us when tempted to sin, and as a comfort when we are slandered or oppressed.
In this judgment tears will not prevail, prayers will not be heard, promises will not be admitted, repentance will be too late; and as for riches, honourable titles, sceptres, and diadems, these will profit much less; and the inquisition shall be so curious and diligent, that not one light thought nor one idle word (not repented of in the life past), shall be forgotten. For truth itself hath said, not in jest, but in earnest, "Of every idle word which men have spoken, they shall give an account in the day of judgment."

Verse 9
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
There are many forms of oppression; both from man and from Satan. He is a high tower so impregnable, that the hosts of hell cannot carry it by storm.

Verse 10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Ignorance is worst when it amounts to ignorance of God. Knowledge is best when it exercises itself upon the name of God. Faith is an intelligent grace; though there can be knowledge without faith, yet there can be no faith without knowledge. Knowledge must carry the torch before faith. This confirmed Paul, Abraham, Sarah, in the faith. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." 2 Timothy 1:12. God shines in with a light upon the understanding. A blind faith is as bad as a dead faith: that eye may as well be said to be a good eye which is without sight, as that faith is good without knowledge.
He never has utterly, finally, really, or angrily forsaken them that seek him. Let the poor seekers draw comfort from this fact.

The revelation ... of Christ ... deserves the severest
of our thoughts,the best of our meditations
and our utmost diligence in them ... What better preparation
can there be for [our future enjoyment of the glory of Christ] than in
a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the
revelation that is made in the Gospel.
~John Owen~
Meditations on the Glory of Christ.

Psalms 8- Spurgeon

<sup>Psalms 8

1</sup>O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

The believing heart is ravished with what it sees, but God only knows the glory of God.

Note the fact that even the heavens cannot contain his glory, it is set above the heavens, since it is and ever must be too great for the creature to express.

²Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou might still the enemy and the avenger.

How often will children tell us of a God whom we have forgotten!

Did not the children cry "Hosannah!" in the temple, when proud Pharisees were silent and contemptuous? What a contrast between the glory above the heavens, and the mouths of babes and sucklings! Yet by both the name of God is made excellent.

³When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

⁴What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

At the close of that excellent little manual entitled "The Solar System," written by Dr. Dick:--A survey of the solar system has a tendency to moderate the pride of man and to promote humility. Pride is one of the distinguishing characteristics of puny man, and has been one of the chief causes of all the contentions, wars, devastations, systems of slavery, and ambitious projects which have desolated and demoralized our sinful world. Yet there is no disposition more incongruous to the character and circumstances of man. Perhaps there are no rational beings throughout the universe among whom pride would appear more unseemly or incompatible than in man, considering the situation in which he is placed. He is exposed to numerous degradations and calamities, to the rage of storms and tempests, the devastations of earthquakes and volcanoes, the fury of whirlwinds, and the tempestuous billows of the ocean, to the ravages of the sword, famine, pestilence, and numerous diseases; and at length he must sink into the grave, and his body must become the companion of worms! The most dignified and haughty of the sons of men are liable to these and similar degradations as well as the meanest of the human family. Yet, in such circumstances, man--that puny worm of the dust, whose knowledge is so limited, and whose follies are so numerous and glaring--has the effrontery to strut in all the haughtiness of pride, and to glory in his shame. When other arguments and motives produce little effect on certain minds, no considerations seem likely to have a more powerful tendency to counteract this deplorable propensity in human beings, than those which are borrowed from the objects connected with astronomy. They show us what an insignificant being-- what a mere atom, indeed, man appears amidst the immensity of creation! Though he is an object of the paternal care and mercy of the Most High, yet he is but as a grain of sand to the whole earth, when compared to the countless myriads of beings that people the amplitudes of creation. What is the whole of this globe on which we dwell compared with the solar system, which contains a mass of matter ten thousand times greater? What is it in comparison of the hundred millions of suns and worlds which by the telescope have been descried throughout the starry regions? What, then, is a kingdom, a province, or a baronial territory, of which we are as proud as if we were the lords of the universe and for which we engage in so much devastation and carnage? What are they, when set in competition with the glories of the sky? Could we take our station on the lofty pinnacles of heaven, and look down on this scarcely distinguishable speck of earth, we should be ready to exclaim with Seneca, "Is it to this little spot that the great designs and vast desires of men are confined? Is it for this there is so much disturbance of nations, so much carnage, and so many ruinous wars? Oh, the folly of deceived men, to imagine great kingdoms in the compass of an atom, to raise armies to decide a point of earth with the sword!"

⁵For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

⁶Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

⁷All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

⁸The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

These verses may set forth man's position among the creatures before he fell; but apostle Paul bringeth it in to prove and to convince the Hebrews, to whom he wrote, that that Psalm was meant of Christ, of that man whom they expected to be the Messiah, the Man Christ Jesus, in the Lord Jesus this was accomplished, for he was made a little lower than the angels by the suffering of death. Man in Eden had the full command of all creatures, and they came before him to receive their names as an act of homage to him as the viceregent of God to them.

"All things under his feet," and quoted by the apostle in Ephesians 1:22--therefore it is proper--was not meant of man in innocency, but of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ; and therefore, answerably, that the world there is not this world, but a world on purpose made for this Messiah, as the other was for Adam. Why? Because in the first verse he saith, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength." There were no babes in the time of Adam's innocency, he fell before there were any. Secondly, he addeth, "That thou might still the enemy and the avenger;" the devil that is, for he shewed himself the enemy there, to be a manslayer from the beginning. God would use man to still him; alas! He overcame Adam presently. It must be meant of another therefore, one that is able to still this enemy and avenger. it is indeed to prove that man fallen cannot be meant in Psalm 8. Why? Because, all things at least, subject unto him; you have not any one man, or the whole race of man, to whom all things have been subject; the creatures are sometimes injurious to him. We do not see him, that is, the nature of man in general considered. Take all the monarchs in the world, they never conquered the whole world; there was never any one man that was a sinner that had all subject to him. "But we see Jesus," that Man, "crowned with glory and honour." So now it remaineth, then, that it is only Christ, God-man, that is meant in Psalm 8.

A full list is given of the subjugated creatures, to show that all the dominion lost by sin is restored in Christ Jesus. Let none of us permit the possession of any earthly creature to be a snare to us, but let us remember that we are to reign over them, and not to allow them to reign over us. Every dish of fish and fowl that come to our table, is an instance of this dominion man has over the works of God's hands, and it is a reason of our subjection to God, and to his dominion over us. The souls of the faithful, lowly and harmless, are the sheep of his pasture; those who, like oxen, are strong to labour in the church, and who, expounding the Word of Life, tread out the corn for the nourishment of the people, own him for their kind and beneficent Master; nay, tempers fierce and intractable as the beasts of the desert, are yet subject to his will; spirits of the angelic kind, that, like the birds of the air, traverse freely the superior region, move at his command; and those evil ones whose habitation is in the deep abyss, even to the great leviathan himself, all are put under the feet of King Messiah.

While the father and master know their place, and keep their distance, so long children and servants will keep theirs by being dutiful and officious; but when they forget this, the father grows fond of the one, and the master too familiar with the other, then they begin to lose their authority and the others to grow saucy and under no command; bid them go, and it may be they will not stir; set them a task, and they will bid you do it yourself. Truly, thus it fares with the Christian; all the creatures are his servants, and so long as he keeps his heart at a holy distance from them, and maintains his lordship over them, not laying them to his bosom, which God hath put "under his feet," all is well; he marches to the duties of God's worship in a goodly order. He can be private with God, and these not be bold to crowd in to disturb him.

It is not that we have everything under our feet but we are SUBJECT to HIM who has everything under His feet. Again, we are the imperfect mirror. So long as we subject to Him and maintain this ‘holy distance’ with ‘all creatures’ ‘these will not crowd in to disturb us’

⁹O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!