Psalm 8 SR Bible Study

Recap:

Last week we began a series through the book of Psalms in chapter 1

And so we talked about how during this study we want to view each Psalm with the main point in mind

Psalms are here to show us how to live a life of praise to the Lord

And so Psalm 1 serves us in that endeavor by showing us from the very beginning and introduction that the first step of successfully living a life of praise to the Lord is by deciding that He is Lord and living your life accordingly

So we saw the two roads, the two ways to live our lives

The way of the wicked that lead to destruction, devastation and damnation

or the way of the wicked that leads to faithfulness, fruitfulness, and fullness

So, step 1. Believe that Jesus is Lord and rest in the salvation of our King redeemer

This week, we are going to go over a few chapters into chapter 8

Intro

My wife and I have 3 kids, 3 girls, and are now expecting our 4th.

With all 3 of our previous kids we found out their gender about as soon as you could find out

And since we found out they were all girls so early in the pregnancy we also knew pretty early on what their names were going to be

Now in my house, my role in the naming process is pretty simple. Dorie sends me a daily text with 27 names and I have dwindle down which ones I am ok with, which ones are out, and which ones I really like

That’s probably an exaggeration on the number, but the process does look something like that.

It’s a really strange process naming a child. It’s a lot of responsibility.

If chosen poorly, I could be the reason my kid gets made fun of it’s whole life

This decision could have an impact on who they become

I’m not naming it Judas, you know what I mean.

You can’t just choose any name

Some people go with family names, some go with biblical names, some go with names they’ve just liked or have always wanted to name their kids

I’m pretty sure some don’t even think about it until they have to put something on the birth certificate and they just put down whatever

But your name gives you an identity

The first thing you do when you meet someone is....tell them your name right.

For some of us even around here, your full name tells other people about you.

For most people around here I’m not really Jeret Foshee

I married Dorie Cruce

And usually when I tell someone that who doesn’t know me from Adam can immediately begin to put some things together about me

Here in Psalm 8, David is going to tell us something about the name of his God

And through this Psalm what we see is 2 contrasts that would seem to be contradicting to one another but as we read we realize are true about God

That He is the awesome God who created the universe and everything in it. And He is also the approachable God who uses things the world would consider weak, small, and insignificant

Psalm 8 NIV

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. 1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 has 4 major parts with the first (vs 1) and the fourth (vs. 9) being identical.

It begins and ends the same way showing us that the entirety of the Psalm should be viewed and understood in light of the “majestic name” of the Lord

Our Bible’s translates two different words into 1. Lord

The first Lord mentioned here is the word “Yahweh.”

It is the covenantal name of God revealed to the Hebrews. Across other religions it was known as the Hebrew God

It occurs 6,828 times in the OT

It communicates the idea of the “God who is, and was, and will always be.”

The 2nd Lord here is translated to Adonai

It means master

We have to remember that most religions of this day were polytheistic (many gods)

And even if they weren’t they were typically welcoming or considerate of other gods

There was no atheism in this day. There was never an argument of if there was a god or not but rather which god is the god

And since most couldn’t come to a conclusion they worshipped many gods with the idea that if they just worshiped all of them then they would have the right one(s) in there somewhere

For David to start his Psalm this way was to say, “in an effort to not offend the gods you’ve offended the one and only God.” All of your are wrong. There is only 1 God

Yahweh, my God, my master

How majestic is your name in all of the earth

You have set your glory in the heavens

Here’s what David is proclaiming

The Lord, the God of Israel, my ruler and master, is not just my Lord, but He holds the name, the only name to be honored in all of the earth and even the heavens.

You can make up gods and you can create idols all that you want but I serve the one true God who’s so majestic that not even creation can contain it.

But then, it seemingly takes a strange turn

Psalm 8:2 NIV

2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

All of verse 1 is true about Him, yet, His greatness can be displayed in the little things in the simple things

Even through the words of a child God can silence a foe

Then David moves on to this paradox between mankind’s insignificance and the lofty role God gives him

It can only be explained by the grace of this magnificent God

David observes and considers the work of God

The heavens, the moon the stars

I don’t know this to be certain but I imagine David as a shepherd boy in this moment gazing up at the sky

Wondering how something, someone could just merely speak and things like the moon the stars appear.

His mind unable to comprehend the vastness, the grandness of a being who could conjure up something so beautiful and magnificent

And yet as magnificent as the most magnificent thing that his brain could possibly come up with

He knew it paled in comparison to his God

But why would a God of such power and might choose to use such lowly instruments like himself?

David takes his proper positioning

thinking on the grandeur of creation, of the sun moon and stars of the heavens

David begins to feel overshadowed and insignificant

Humans are so small

Gen tells us that we are like dust

And throughout Scripture are reminders of our weakness and frailty

And yet, David recalls, that despite that reality for us, in His grace God has crowned us with glory and honor.

An infinite God cares for finite man

The God who created big things also cares for the little things

He is mindful of us

Attentive to us

Never leaving or forsaking us

David declares here in the Psalm, therefore God declares that we are a little lower than the angels

This could be a verse we talked a lot about but what I want to focus on is, it doesn’t say, we are a little higher than the animals

But a little lower than the angels

We are created as representatives of God, delegated with authority on earth, crowned with glory and honor.

This should shape our sense and what it means to be human

Listen to me closely on this,

you and I are like the dust of the ground

a speck, a blip in the radar, a minute particle in a vast world

Yet, in His grace, God bestows upon us glory and honor

God given!

If we lose sight of who God is, we lose sight of who man is

If we lose sight of who man is, we lose sight of who God is

You cannot worship and glorify the majesty of God while treating His crown jewel of creation with contempt. Whatever color or age he might be

You can not hate your brother and glorify the majesty of God

We must know God, understand our place, and live in our design

Which 6-8 tells us about

We are made rulers over the works of God’s hands

We have been designed by God for dominion and rulership

We are to rule over the earth as representatives of it’s Creator God

We are not called to be slaves to the things of this world but called to rule over it and put everything in its rightful place

As we spread the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth

Awaiting the day when Jesus will return and will do that once and for all

How can He do that?

Psalm 8:2 NIV

2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

Jesus applies verse 2 to himself in Matt

Matthew 21:15–16 NIV

15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. 16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”

So, don’t miss the point here, Jesus is applying Psalm 8:2 to himself.

He was claiming to be the majestic God of whom children and infants praise and give witness. He is the God of Psalm 8!

And the God of Psalm 8 comes and dies for His people

So that they may not be ruled over any longer

But so that they can rule, so that they can live, so that they can love

And because the God of Psalm 8 was willing to lay down His life for the people described in this Psalm

You and I get to experience life with Him

Here and now!

And also, on that day when He does return, that He may take us home to experience verses 1 and 9 in a whole new light

Psalm 8:9 NIV

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