For the unbeliever there are grounds enough for faith, both within and without. And if, even with the desire, faith be still found to be beset with difficulties, there is one unfailing prayer which will make it easy--the prayer, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief."
"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?"--Psalm viii. 4.
One or two remarks on the meaning of certain expressions in this Psalm are necessary before we proceed. The second verse is pictorial, and has a martial character. Two hosts are seen facing each other. A beautiful world and a wonderful universe are in view of both. Children, in their conscious or unconscious admiration of what they see, and in the early and universal instinct by which they attribute it to the hand of a great God, effectually rebuke the unbelief of scoffers and all haters of God, who persistently refuse to recognise Him in His works. So, even to-day, the simple and pious intuitions of the race face, fight, and conquer all materialism. The beautiful and significant application of these words found in the account of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem points for all time to the duty of giving Christian teaching to the young. In our Christian homes and our Sunday-schools lies the great bulwark against the spread of infidelity. Such teaching acts on the future. "Instead of the fathers shall be the children," a generation to serve God. These will become fathers in their turn. "Take care of the children, and the adults will take care of themselves."
"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" At first sight, it would seem as though the Psalmist were contrasting the littleness of man with the greatness of the universe. And, indeed, he does use a word to denote man which points to his weakness. But this is only David's starting-point in his aim to correct the impression. The Psalm reveals, not the littleness, but the greatness of man. "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" How little he looks! Yet how great he must be! "For Thou makest him to want little of a Divine standing; Thou crownest him with honour and glory; Thou makest him to have dominion over the work of Thy hands; Thou puttest all under his feet--all sheep and oxen, and also beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea--whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea."