Thoughts on Psalm 8

 

“O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.”  v.1.

 

I love reading the Psalms! They move me in my heart to worship the one true God. I remember singing this in church in the early 1990s. God alone is worthy of worship. His name, His power, His greatness should be proclaimed in all the earth.

 

“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?” v.3-4

 

I really love to marvel at God’s creation. I look at the limited amount of stars and planets visible to me nearly nightly. I stand in awe of the beauty of the clouds and many aspects of God’s creation. God’s universe is immense. And trying to comprehend its vastness can make me feel like a microscopic speck on a microscopic speck compared to all of it. I relate to David (the author of this Psalm) when he asks, “what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” It is truly humbling to consider the fact that God loves those who believe. David goes on regarding people,

 

“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.”   v.5-8

 

When God created humankind, He put us over His creation. Genesis 1:27-28 says,

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

 

In the Psalm, David is in awe of God’s treatment of humans compared to the whole of creation. The universe is wonderful and massive, but God has put mankind over this earth. God has given us “glory and honor.” It is sad that much of humanity has rejected God’s authority over them. But for those who believe in the triune God and his saving work completed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we rejoice in his love and kindness toward us. God is amazing. His creation continues to reveal his glory and power. He has given us His Word so that we can know what we need to about Him.

 

David ends the Psalm where he began, praising God for His majesty.

“O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!” v. 9

We too, when we consider how wonderful God is, should praise Him for His greatness.

 

Please reach out to me with questions about God and the Bible. I will research the Bible and do my best to answer. Remember, God is all sovereign…