David went on to answer his own question, at least in
part. He recognized the divine
attributes with which God has endowed man, crowning him “with glory and
honour”, granting to man “dominion over the works of” God’s hands, that God has
“put all things under his [man’s] feet:
all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowls of the
air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the
seas.” (Psalm 8:5-8)
The marvels of nature and the creatures of the earth are
breathtaking. The complexity of the
simplest forms of life eludes adequate description and elicits wondrous
appreciation when carefully considered.
As marvelous as all these are, nothing on earth inanimate compares in
wonder and complexity with living creatures, and there is no living creature to
approach the wonder of man.
Of course some self-important yet self-despising scholars
trouble to challenge the apodictically true pronouncement of God to the first
man and woman that they were given dominion over all living things on earth
(cf. Genesis 1:26-28). But the very
erudition of their failed philosophy still serves to demonstrate the
intellectual chasm between man and the most intelligent non-human life form, a
distance that is unbridgeably vast.
Evidences are abundant, but I offer a handful in
illustration: no creature but a human
can write even the simplest book let alone a Shakespeare play. No creature but a human can build anything
remotely as complex or useful as a typical suburban house let alone a modern
skyscraper. No creature but a human can
invent musical harmonies let alone compose a Beethoven symphony. No bird of any kind can fly as fast or as
high or transport as much weight as one of the more simple jet planes let alone
a modern airliner. Elsewhere I have
pointed out the curious example of man’s dominion in that (as far as I have
observed) humans are the only creatures on earth to have pets. Even man’s destructive abuse of his powers
serves to emphasize his possession of abilities of a kind beyond the ken of any
other creatures.
Man has not been given these gifts as the most favored of
God’s animals. He receives them by inheritance, and the
gifts that man exercises in mortality are but intimations of what God the
Father has prepared for His children in the eternities. So Paul taught the Romans,
The Spirit itself beareth witness with
our spirit, that we are the children of God:
and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. (Romans 8:16-18)
With these gifts come responsibilities. In modern times the Lord reminded His children
that the riches of the earth and of all creatures,
are made for the benefit and the use of
man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; yea, for food and for
raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the
soul.
And it pleaseth God
that he has given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made
to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion. (Doctrine and Covenants 59:18-20)
This confidence coupled with accountability assigned to man
by the Creator may be significant reasons why prayer is so simple, why
communication with God is so direct, as child to Father. We are like Him, and He is mindful of us. Communicating with God is not like a dog trying
to communicate its wants to its master. When
God created the earth, all creatures were to multiply, “after their kind”, but
God created man and woman, “in his own image” (cf. Genesis 1:21-27). He wants us to talk with Him and places no barriers between us and Him, because we
are of a kind.
It takes no more faith—and no service charges—to talk with
God than it does to communicate with your aunt in Cleveland
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