Do I matter?
That question lands differently depending on who is asking it. Imagine two teenagers in your youth group. Meet Jordan. She’s extremely quiet, easily overlooked, and feels like there’s nothing impressive about her. She wonders whether her life matters at all. Sitting next to her is Jamal. He is the life of the party, ultra-popular, and supremely talented. He knows he matters—check out the evidence! Yet, there’s an underlying anxiety: his significance feels tied to his performance.
Whether the kids in your youth ministry feel too small like Jordan or too big like Jamal, they’re all trying to answer the same question: Do I matter? The answer influences how they face everything in life—school pressures, relationships, failures, and even ordinary moments.
Psalm 8 answers the question “Do I matter” by pointing us not to ourselves, but to God. As you walk with students who are seeking purpose, I encourage you to unpack this psalm with them.
The Insignificance of Human Beings
Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise celebrating the majestic work of God—from the skies above to the earth below. David opens with awe:
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens. (Ps. 8:1)
As we teach this psalm or open it with students we disciple, we can talk with them about the immensity of God’s creation. The heavens—the sun, moon, and stars—proclaim God’s eternal power and beauty. Yet, he is so supreme that he even uses the praises of children to silence his enemies (v. 2). God displays his majesty through every facet of creation, whether it’s the northern lights or a toddler singing, “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.”
Next, David steps outside and looks up at the night sky.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? (Ps. 8:3-4)
The universe is vast. The nearest star, the sun, is more than a million times bigger than Earth. The largest known star, UY Scuti, could hold five billion of Earth’s suns inside it. And yet, God—the one who created these immense wonders—is mindful of us.
For Jordan, this is humbling. She feels small, overlooked, and insignificant, but the cure isn’t more self-focus. She needs to look away from herself and lose herself in the glory of God. For Jamal, it’s also humbling, albeit in a different way. He might think, “I’m important because of my achievements, my talents, my reputation.” Sin inflates our sense of self and shrinks our sense of God. But the heavens give Jamal a shot of spiritual sanity. They expose his smallness and remind him: Who is he that God would give him a second thought?
The Significance of Human Beings
Despite our smallness, Psalm 8 declares that God remembers and cares for us. Humanity is crowned with glory and honor (v. 5). God made humans “a little lower than the heavenly beings” and gave us dominion over creation (vv. 6-8). Despite the vastness of the cosmos, we are the pinnacle of God’s handiwork, created in his image.
We can help our students notice the structure of the psalm: it’s bookended with God’s glory (v. 1, 9), yet the center emphasizes humanity’s glory (v. 5). We’re smaller than specks, yet we possess worth and dignity as God’s image bearers.
Paradoxically, sin can make us feel both too significant and too insignificant. Sin can make us feel like the world revolves around us (like Jamal) or like a waste of space (like Jordan). Psalm 8 is the cure for both extremes. It both humbles us and exalts us. Psalm 8 lifts Jordan’s head and brings Jamal to his knees. Their significance comes not from their personality, popularity, or performance, but from God.
But perhaps you notice a tension. As glorious as Psalm 8 sounds, it doesn’t quite match reality. When Jordan looks in the mirror, painfully aware of all her imperfections, she doesn’t appear to be crowned with glory and honor. She scrolls through her feed: conflict, sickness, loneliness, heartbreak. It seems creation isn’t under our feet at all.
This is where we can help our students recognize the impact of sin. Humanity has rebelled against God. Instead of receiving glory and honor from him, we sought those things apart from him. We wanted the majesty of our name proclaimed over all the earth. Sin dehumanizes us—making us less than God created us to be. Sometimes we’re puffed up with pride, sometimes we’re crushed with worthlessness.
Jesus: Our True Significance
Enter Jesus. Hebrews 2 says Psalm 8 is fulfilled in him:
“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.” (Hebrews 2:9)
Jesus, the King of the universe, became small. He humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. And by dying and rising again, he restored what we had lost.
Here’s what that means for Jordan and Jamal: if they put their trust in Jesus, they share in his victory. They matter—not because of their personality, popularity, or performance, but because the King of the stars loved them enough to die for them.
Let me illustrate this by telling you a story about a man named George. In 2001, George decided to sponsor a poor 7-year-old boy in the Philippines named Timothy. He wrote, “I am an old man, 77 years old, but I love kids; and though we have not met, I love you already.” For years, they exchanged letters—photos, poems, and updates on life—building a warm, caring friendship.
But then George died.
Years later, Timothy discovered that his pen pal was none other than former U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Timothy was speechless. Who was he—a poor 7-year-old boy—that a former president would care for him, write to him, and take the time to notice him?
Well, Psalm 8—and the message of the Bible—tells us something infinitely better. The God who made the stars with his fingers also watches over your students. And the God who is high and exalted condescended. He exchanged his throne for a cross. His crown of glory for a crown of thorns. And he suffered and died so that they might be restored. That is their true significance.
Looking for more encouragement and equipping for gospel-centered ministry? Check out Rooted’s youth ministry video training courses.
