The Hunter Home

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Without the revelation of God in his word, we would ask the hopeless question, What is man? But because God has spoken, we can ask, What is man that you are mindful of him? In his word, God has told us who we are. Human beings are the crown of God’s creation. God’s name is majestic in all the earth, and – astoundingly – he has placed that earth under our feet. But that’s not just a statement of the obvious. That is a statement of our significance as those who have been given charge over the entire creation, to mediate God’s rule.

God, the creator and upholder of all things, is indeed mindful of us – every one of us. And he is mindful of a little boy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Carson Hunter is crowned with glory and honor, a special creation of God.

Today, I leave to receive this prince of creation.

But I am doing so because for the past two years he has been without a mom and a dad. Carson, in ways to which most of us cannot personally relate, understands what the author of Hebrews meant when he reflected on Psalm 8, “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” If this were not God’s word, I would say that is an understatement. Things in this world are not in their proper order. And for the parents of orphaned children, they know what this means as well. There are only sad reasons why children are made orphans.

But thankfully, the author of Hebrews had more to preach. He continued, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

That is very good news.

It is good news because when Carson gets home to America and home to our home, he will find out this too is a place of many imperfections. There is death on our side of the world too.

He needs a mom and a dad for many reasons.

But more than a mom and a dad, Carson needs a brother.

The author of Hebrews continues, “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers.’…Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. …Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of god, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Carson will know me soon. In time he will know me well. And when he knows me well, he will know he needs more than me, just like I need more than me. All things are not under daddy’s feet like they should be, but they are under Christ’s. Together the Hunters are safe if they know him.

God is mindful of this little man. And God has answered our prayers and his cries by making him our son. May the Lord answer our prayers and make him our brother.