The psalmist just explained a big mystery. Christians have a responsibility over the earth and everything in it. You can even exercise your dominion over long life, health, and prosperity. In essence, it is not up to God, but up to you to make life on earth just like heaven.
Most Christians I have ever met don't know and don't understand their authority. I did a home-going service (funeral) once. Unfortunately, a minor went home to be with the Lord prematurely. There were speakers that preceded me who talked about how God never makes a mistake.
They were saying that God took the life of this individual for some nebulous reason. And God wanted him to be with Him...so the Lord took him. The reason people say that is because they are spiritually uneducated. They don't know what the Bible says about the preservation of one's life and man's dominion on the earth.
The problem with this wrong thinking is that God becomes the whipping boy for everybody. If something happens that people can't explain or don't understand, they blame God and say, "God allowed it, so it must be His will."
However, the Scripture lays out for you the way things really work. It says the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth has He given to the children of men. What is God telling you? He is telling you that He gave the dominion that He had on earth to man.
He still has dominion in heaven, but He gave dominion in the earth to man. We may want to examine what happens in heaven and compare it to what happens on earth.
The book of Revelation tells us there is no crying in heaven, no poverty, fear, depression, and no lack. In fact, there is nothing bad happening in heaven at all. Why is that? Heaven has manifested God's will.
His will is not that people be sick, broke, murdered, sad, bad, mad and discouraged. Where God is in control, you don't have any of that. But where men are in control, you have a lot of bad things happening. And the reason He gave man authority before the fall of Adam in the first place was so that what is happening in heaven would also happen in the earth.
He gave Adam the authority to deal with anything that walked, swam or flew and even over the planet itself. He gave him authority, which means, whatever man said to the planet itself and whatever he said to everything on the planet obeyed him. But guess what? If that man didn't take authority over the planet then it would go on it's own. There would be chaos, uncertainty, and defeat.
Surely, we need God's will manifested on the earth. That is why Jesus taught His disciples to pray that God's will be done in earth as it is in heaven. When you take control by going to the word of God and get God's will manifested in your life, then you will have things in earth just as they are in heaven.
Scripture reference: Matthew 6:9-15
Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center.
He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).
