Psalm 8 - A Hymn of Praise

Intro

Read the Psalm.

Psalm 8 is a Psalm of Praise and it marks a distinct change from Chapters 6 and 7 which are both prayer asking for deliverance from enemies and the despair that comes in the midst of stress and danger. We will go into those types of lament type Psalms at another date. Tonight what I want to take a look at is how David Worshiped God and how we can take our cues from him.

The Lord’s Majesty Ps. 1

I can’t read the opening or closing verses of this Psalm without thinking of or breaking out into song. The song is How Majestic is your name and it was published back in 1981 by Michael W Smith. The repeating of the title “Lord” in the first part of the opening and closing lends itself well to this song but words in the Hebrew are actually different. The first Lord is the word we expect to find there, the Hebrew word Yahweh. However the Second Lord is not Yahweh but Adoni. So while it is not translated wrongly it is more correctly but less vocally pleasing translated as O Lord, our Master. With this mindset we aren’t just musically calling on the Lord we are putting Him in the proper placement of our lives. He is our Lord and Master.

David then takes the time to worship God in His Glory. Not only is God Himself worthy of our praise but even His name is glorious. The NKJV uses the word excellent but I like Michael W. Smiths word Majestic better, and the Hebrew word can be translated either way. Majestic points not only to the greatness of our God but to his Adoni-ness as well He is our Lord and Master, His name is great and His name is majestic. And to prove that point David recognizes that God’s glory is set even above the heavens. The idea here is that God is displaying his Splendor. Like the collectors at Duck Tail coming in a month who park their restored, beautiful cars out for all who pass by to see, God displays His glory for all to see. There is no one like Him, He has no competitor for best in show, there is nothing as grand as Him, as powerful as Him, wise as Him, Merciful as Him, loving as Him. The characteristics can just go on and on. His Glory is displayed for all to see the Splendor of our God.

The Lord’s Strength Ps. 2

Now let’s move to verse 2 and here we find a confusing statement. Gods power is shown through the weakest of humanity. This verse matches well with the conversation that Jesus has with the chief priests and scribes in Matthew 21:15-16.

David points to babes and infants in order to display God’s strength. Why?

In 1 Cor. 1:27 we read. The babe and the infant have no means of their own strength. Therefore, they are the weak things of the world and yet even they can point us to the wonder and beauty of our God therefore their childish faith puts to shame the faith of those who believe they know best how to live this life.

Even the Enemies of God are put to shame through this faith of babes and infants. There is nothing that God cannot use in order to proclaim His strength.

The Lord’s Creation Ps. 3-8

But now we will turn to the meat of this Psalm and look at verses 3-8.

This is a look at the majesty of God’s creative power. Here we see that David is amazed by the handiwork of God. We don’t know when this Psalm was written but it would not be wrong to think of this being a song written by David early in his life while shepherding late at night. You can almost picture the young shepherd David sitting in the sheep's gate of the pen protecting the sheep from all the dangers of the world and while doing so He had hours on his hands to glance up and be awestruck.

When He looked up in the night sky David saw the beauty of God’s creation and who doesn’t. When you look into the night sky and see the billions of stars and the beauty of their lights. When you see the milky-way and wonder at the immensity of it all there is no greater word to say than, “Wonder” or “Awe” for that is all that we can do is sit and stare at the grandeur that his God’s creation. David, attributes the whole beauty of the cosmos to the wiggling of God’s fingers. God’s creative work at the simple movement of His hands.

But David continues on to point out that God didn’t just hap-haphazardly place the stars and planets and the galaxy's in place, no He ordained them there or as other translations put it God, “Set them in place.” God didn’t just throw the stars out of a bucket and let them land where they may, no He purposely placed them where he wanted them.

The word we translate here as Ordain is the Hebrew word Kun and in a Hebrew dictionary it is described as, “The primary action of this verb is to cause to stand in an upright position, and thus the word also means fixed or steadfast. It signifies the action of setting in place or erecting an object” Therefore God is not just wiggling His fingers and galaxies and stars and planets appear randomly. He didn’t do as the ancient farmers sowed their fields by pulling the seeds out of a pouch and let them fly and land where they may. No, the beauty of what we believe about God is that nothing is done without purpose and design. And when we see that purpose and design done on the scale of the undefinable attributes of the universe then how much more so does God’s purpose and design move us and seeks to make our lives more meaningful and compelling.

David is awestruck by the beauty of God’s grand design for that is what it is: a design. There is nothing in all of the universe that was not put there by God with purpose, planning, and intent. And David could only see what his eyes could behold, David could only take in a small portion of the universe as a whole and even that brought him to worship the glory of God’s creative beauty.

But David’s glory for God is not left in the uttermost parts of the universe instead it draws him introspectively to his own life. David asks the question: If this creative God of the universe could build and place all of stars and planets in their order then who is man that God would think of him? What a question. Consider the immeasurable vastness, the unfathomable power, the incomprehensible wisdom of the God who could create something so enormous as the universe and yet still care and love someone like me. And it is not just that God had a passing thought that included mankind but God thinks about and loves us so much that He cares for us.

Again we have a word here that needs to be defined. The word is “paqad” which in the NKJV is translated as “visits” and while that works in that you don’t visit someone you don’t care for, the word “paqad” refers to someone (usually God) paying attention to persons, to do them good or harm”

This flies in the face of those who call themselves Deists. Deism was a big thing back in the founding of our nation. Many of the founding fathers considered themselves to be Desists. Deism is defined this way, “a belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.” But in order for them to come to this conclusion they had to deny that the Bible was truly an interaction from God with humanity and they had to deny scriptures like this where David not only sees the beauty of creation but the hand of God interacting with that creation.

And what about that interaction with God well as David saw it God not only cares about us but He desired to give us purpose and meaning. Therefore, God made us only a little lower than Himself. The NASB translates this verse, “Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!” We aren’t gods but we are made in the image of God and because of that we are also given a portion of the wisdom of God. As verse 5 continues we see that we are even crowned or appointed as rulers of this world custom created for us to live in. Not only that but God who alone is worthy of worship grants us a portion of his glory and majesty as the rulers of this world. God gives us His image, appoints us with purpose, and then allows us to rule over this world we call home. Every land, every animal, every fish and every bird that makes this earth it’s home was placed here by God to be ruled over by us His beloved creations. Therefore it is equally wrong for us to place a priority on the wellbeing of the land or the animal over that of humanity but it is also wrong for us to misuse or destroy the animal or the land that God has given us to rule.

The Lord’s Majesty Ps. 9

As we bring this Psalm of Praise to a close, What does this psalm teach us about God’s love and grace?

How can we use it in our everyday life to deepen our relationship with God?

How can we use it to share God with those around us who don’t know Him?

Therefore we will do as David once did and we will look up into the greatness of His creation and we will worship His Majestic Name which is the most excellent name in all the earth. Let us praise Him as we close in Prayer.