As the descendants of Adam and Eve, we are prone to shout out, “How majestic is my name in all the earth!” In other words, we try to answer the ontological question “Who am I?” by securing our power, autonomy, and glory. The true answer to the question of our identity, however, comes from God our Creator, who strengthens us, cares for us, and crowns us with glory and honor. 

I believe the two most fundamental questions of every human are “Who am I?” and “Who are you?” We constantly ask these questions to ourselves and others. This was the case even before the Fall: the first question was answered by God (Gen. 1:26-27), and the second question was raised and answered by man (Adam): “This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23).^[1] As Genesis illustrates, these ontological questions have always been the most fundamental inquiry of humanity. To put it differently, to be human is to identify—an endless quest of identifying self and others.

There are two ways to answer these creaturely questions: God’s way or another way, and our choice will lead us down different paths. In Genesis 3, the serpent’s questions sound like this: “Who are you, Eve? No, not what God says. Who are you really? What are you capable of? Who do you really want to be?” By questioning what God actually said, the serpent stirred Eve’s heart to question God’s goodness and authority. As a result, she attempted to re-identify herself—her power, autonomy, and eternal glory. This choice of self-worship, along with Adam’s cooperation, changed the identity and destiny of humanity.

“O LORD, Our Lord”: God’s Strength in Our Weakness

As we see in Psalm 8, David had the same questions as Adam and Eve, and perhaps the same desire as they did: power, autonomy, and glory. Instead of seeking those or the answer to the questions, however, David praised God first (vv. 1-2);

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.

To David, who God is matters more than who I am, because power and authority belong to the Lord. If we can choose between strength and weakness, we all would choose to be strong “to still the enemy and the avenger.” Our Creator, however, establishes strength “out of the mouth of babies and infants.” This is one of the core principles of who we are: we are strong when we are weak. Jesus taught His disciples to be servants—to be the least to be the greatest (Matt. 23:11, Luke 9:48), and He set a model of God-glorifying weakness to break the stronghold of death (Phil. 2:5-8). God often answers our prayers for strength by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

When we seek strength, we become weak just like Adam and Eve. When we seek God who is strong, however, we become strong even though we are weak.^[2] At the core of our identity is God’s strength.

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