Psalm 8 - God, Worshipful Creator and Redeemer

When was the last time you took the advice of the old saying and “stopped and smelt the roses?” How long has it been since you intentionally slowed down, stepped outside, and thought about the world that you were looking at? When was the last time you lifted your eyes from your cubicle, phone, or the asphalt in front of you and looked around to find your heart shaken by the thought, “I personally know the One who made all of this and He knows me?” Well, if you are like much of the world today, it may have been a while. We live in a fast-paced society full of glowing screens and screaming sounds all buying for our attention and this has created a world around us that has effectively detached us from the shouting sermon that is the created world.

This reality is the prophetic fulfillment of the concern expressed by CS Lewis who was thought to be a grumpy old curmudgeon who just couldn’t get with the times. You see, in Lewis’s mind, the development of the car and technology would serve to create a world so fast-paced that we wouldn’t have time to slow down and enjoy a walk where our minds were left open to breathe in what we were seeing and to think. This was picked up on in Fahrenheit 451 where Clarisse asks Montag if he’s noticed how big billboards are now stating that they’re now 200 feet long when they were once only 48, “But cars started rushing by so quickly they had to stretch the advertising out so it would last.” Is that true of your own life today? Is your mind so drowned out with the fast-paced responsibilities and entertainments of this world that you’ve effectively forgotten what it means to enjoy the world around you and to stop and think?

If so, it is my prayer that as we look at Psalm 8, we will find ourselves reminded of the importance of creation, what it communicates, and how it sparks awe in the hearts of those who believe. I believe that we will find our hearts sparked with awe as we consider:

1. Our God’s Glory in Creation

2. Our God’s Generous Use of Praise

3. Our God’s Gracious Care for Mankind

1. Our God’s Glory in Creation.

David begins this Psalm by crying out in worship, “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the Earth…” In your Bibles, you may notice that the first use of the name “LORD” is all caps whereas the second use is only capitalized in its first letter. This is the translator’s way of letting us know that David is using two different words for “Lord” here. The first use, which is always fully capitalized, denotes the use of the name “Yahweh, or Jehovah” which is David’s reflecting on Israel’s faithful covenant God, and in the next Lord, David calls Him “Adonai” which is what we would generally understand as “master” or “Lord.” But David isn’t finished. He passionately explodes in worshipfully emphasizing that Israel’s faithful God isn’t bound to Israel alone, but His glory expands the fullness of the Earth and expands above the heavens themselves! To put it simply, David considers the glory of his God as being declared through creation and yet He is so glorious that not even the Heavens can contain it.

As we look down at verse 3, we notice that as David is meditating, His heart is set on God’s creation, how He purposefully set it into place, and this sparks a sense of awe within him that this Creator cares for men. As David gazes up into the night sky, he is reminded of how small he is, David is simply left in awe of God’s handiwork. And this caused me to ask myself, “When was the last time you were this awestruck?” Now, my definition of awe is a mind-widening experience where our understanding of the world is confronted as being too small. For instance, last year I had the privilege of going to Glacier National Park for the first time and to this day I regularly reflect on how mind-blowing that experience was. How, on that overcast day, the mountains pierced through the canopy of clouds, how the melting snowcaps released streams of crystal-clear water that raced down the mountains into blue ponds, how majestic the animals were, and how small I was. What was so amazing about that experience was that my mind didn’t seem to have a category to file how otherworldly that experience was.

Now, these experiences are important, but you don’t have to travel across the country to view them. You might experience it in the miracle of a mother birthing her child, a bird carefully knitting its nest, or the budding tulips in spring. Regardless of when it strikes you, a sense of awe in our lives is important because it charges us with the reality that we aren’t as big as we think we are, and we don’t have things quite as figured out as we think we do. What is so important for us to understand about this is that these aren’t just goosebump-giving experiences that end there, but that these goosebump-giving experiences cause us to consider the fact that it was God, a God who is greater than these great experiences that put them there. I want you to think about Psalm 19 for a moment. In Psalm 19:1-6, David highlights the glory of God in creation, and in verses 4-6 he highlights that our God sets the sun in the heavens as though it were a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. Now think of this, David doesn’t describe the sun's job as a grueling task, but he is so moved and inspired by the Spirit that he describes the sun's job as akin to a man’s wedding day. For the sun, the privilege of rising where God put him is like the most important day of his life where he is decked out in beautiful clothes and simply delighted.

Not only is the sun akin to a bridegroom going to get his bride, but it’s like a strongman running a race. Perhaps you’ve seen the old movie “Chariots of Fire.” In it, Eric Lidell expresses, “I believe God made me for a purpose. He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure.” In the end, Eric is racing in the Olympics and as he nears the finish line for the gold medal, you can see him pumping his arms and legs with everything he has, and you can see in him the expression of a man with purpose. This, David says, is the delight that the sun has in its existence both day in and day out. Beloved, is this our experience as we look at the world? Or are we so trapped in our digital bubble that we haven’t considered God’s creation in recent memory? Better yet, do we have time to contemplate like David is here, or do we let the algorithm on our phones do it for us? The reason this is so important is, as Herman Bavinck puts it, “General revelation [creation] is the foundation on which special revelation [the Word of God] builds itself up” (Bavinck, Reformed Dog., Vol. 1, 322). Well, not only do we find this text calling our hearts to be sparked with awe as we consider God’s creation, but we also find it our hearts sparked as we consider point two which is:

2. God’s Generous Use of Our Praise

In verse 2, David makes a monumental shift from the universe to a little infant. Now, what is intriguing here is that little nursing infants don’t speak, yet the text reads that it's from their mouths that God shuts up the mouths of His enemies. The NIV reads, “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” In my opinion, I believe that David is using poetic language to describe the feebleness of Israel and how God uses the worship of these weak believers as war on His enemies which is not unusual in the Bible. For instance, you might remember the story of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles. There, he finds himself surrounded by the Ammonites, the Moabites, and their allies. As he runs to God in prayer, and his prayer is a beautiful one, God sends a prophecy to him stating that this battle is the Lord’s. Well, as Israel marches into battle, they send worshippers before them singing, “Give thanks to the Lord for His love endures forever!” And what does God do? He wipes out the enemies without Israel ever needing to lift a finger. Or you might think of Paul and Silas who found themselves in jail. However, at midnight, while the two of them were singing to the Lord, He sent an earthquake and loosened their chains.

But most important of all is in Matthew 21:16. There, Jesus has made the triumphal entry, He has cleansed the Temple and has healed the lame and sick and then we read that children were screaming out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Well, the Pharisees, or the enemies of God, didn’t much like this and so they ask Jesus, “Are you not hearing what these kids are saying!?” As though to say, “Are you not going to tell them to stop?” To which Jesus replies, “Have you not read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise?”

What a beautiful thing it is to think that our God is pleased to hear and use the praise of weak and needy sinners as an act of spiritual warfare among His enemies! What a precious thought it is to think that Jesus uses the praise of redeemed trophies of grace that were once broken and bruised to let all of His enemies know that He is who He says He is. Beloved, as we have gathered here tonight, we are doing just that. And although our worship may not be perfect, our lovely Lord is pleased to use the praise of poor, redeemed sinners for His own purposes and what more could draw our hearts to worship that the final thought from this text tonight which is that our hearts will be sparked with awe as we consider:

3. The Gracious Care of God for Mankind

As David looks at the sky, he thinks to himself, “Wow. The Maker of all this knows and cares for me.” The word, “mindful” there is important to pick up on because throughout the Bible, ‘God’s remembering always implies his movement toward the object of his memory’ (Kidner, Derek. p. 84.). Not only does God, the One who upholds all of creation, remember us, but He visits, or cares, for us and why is that? Because He has elevated these little beings known as humans to high status as image bearers. This passage should cause us to remember the delightful scenes of Eden as God lovingly creates our parents in His image and calls them to exercise dominion over the Earth. So, why does God care for us? Because He stamped His image in us.

Now, I believe the question we should ask is, “Do I reflect His image perfectly and do I exercise dominion properly?” By dominion I mean, do you abuse resources, or care for what you have? How do you treat your animals, your spouse, your friends, and your customers? How do you steward the life and calling God has given you? And I think we know the answer is, “Not perfectly.” James picks up on this in James 3:7-8 as he writes, “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue…” We can tame all sorts of things, but we can’t tame our sinful selves, can we? Do we exercise dominion perfectly? No. And do we see all things put under our feet? No. But we aren’t left without hope!

Hebrews 2:5-9 reads, “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”

Do we see everything beneath our feet? No! But do you know what we are able to see until that time comes? By faith, we see that Christ, the One who is creator and sustainer, has come, died and risen with glory and honor for us and our salvation! Jesus is the One who has set His glory in creation. John 1:3 says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Jesus is the One worshipped by the mouths of babes in Matthew 21:16. Jesus is the culmination of divine thoughtfulness toward us as “the word became flesh and dwelt among us” and since it is through Him all things are being made right. Tonight it is imperative that you realize that you were created in the image of God for the purpose of reflecting His glory to the world and we all have sinned and failed in this calling, but in Christ there is forgiveness and reconciliation is you will call upon Him and trust in Him as your righteousness.

Do you know why should be drawn to passionate worship tonight? Because as we walk out of here and see the beautiful setting sun, we can say, “I know the One who made it all, and He has remembered me, died for me, and is coming for me! He will see to it that all things will be made new and I will one day enjoy an Earth that is full of His excellent glory.”

So, what do we learn from this tonight?

First, we need to slow down and consider the visible sermon of God’s creation.

(Maybe check out Prov. 30:1-6 to show how general rev serves special rev.)

Second, we need to consider that we are babes who have seen the truth, and it is through our mouths that Christ is to be praised. In Matthew 11:25 Jesus says, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.

Third, we need to consider that our worship is not merely isolated adoration but is demonstrated in passionate obedience to His commands which includes evangelism. In Acts 14:8-18, Paul shows us how to apply creation to our evangelism as he preaches.

Finally, we need to consider that the God who made everything in mindful of us and cares for us as His people.