How Majestic is Your Name (Psalm 8)

Announcements

This Sunday, November 14th at the conclusion of our Sunday AM Worship Service, we’re planning on taking the Lord’s Supper together. I’m reminding those of you that will be there to take time over the weekend to prepare your hearts for communion. Repent of sins and come to the table in a way that is worthy of the sacrificial atonement that he made for you on the cross.

On Wednesday, November 24th, we’ll have a love feast in lieu of our normal Bible Study & Prayer time. This will look like a normal dinner time followed by the Lord’s Supper. The meal for that night is taken care of, but we could utilize some help with desserts. If you’re willing to help with desserts, please speak with Natalie as soon as possible.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) you can give in-person at the offering box at the entrance: checks should be written to Grace & Peace; and if you’d like a receipt for your cash gifts, please slip it into an envelope with your name on it; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting the number 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at graceandpeacepa.com and selecting “giving” in the menu bar. Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

Our passage for this evening is Psalm 8, which is a shorter psalm of David that simply praises God for what all he has done. It might be somewhat familiar to you, it’s one of my favorite psalms because of its high emphasis on simply praising God. Like many of the other Psalms, the time period that psalm 8 is written is unknown to us—we don’t really know when it was written or where it was written or even, what the circumstances that surrounded it were. We just know that David wrote this psalm as a psalm to praise God for who he is and what God has done.

The superscription of the psalm, tells us that it was written “to the choirmaster: according to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.” Much like the previous psalms that we’ve worked through, we don’t really know what a “Gittith” is. Most scholars tend to think that the Gittith is a musical term of some sort, but beyond knowing that it is a musical term, we have no knowledge of what type of musical term it is. What we do know, from the superscription is quite simple—it is written by David, it was sent to the choirmaster (so we can assume that it was meant to be sang by a choir) and it’s musical in some manner or another.

What we know from the text itself, is that David is reflecting on God’s creation and it is this reflection on God’s creation that causes him to well up in praise and worship. Let’s read Psalm 8 together.

Psalm 8 ESV

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David. 1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into three parts: (1) Vs. 1 & 9, which I know is a little unusual to do, but what you’ll see as we study this passage is that David says a similar statement in both verses to bookend the psalm together. Or in other words, David is utilizing vs. 1 & 9 to encapsulate all of Psalm 8 with its theme and the theme of Psalm 8 is simple, it is all about The Majesty of God. (2) Vs. 2-3, shows us God’s glory as seen in Creation, and (3) Vs. 4-8, shows us Man’s Position in God’s Creation. All of Psalm 8 should cause us to praise and glorify the Lord in our present world as we reflect on his majesty, his creation, and the position that he has placed us in.

Prayer for Illumination

The Majesty of God (1, 9)

Psalm 8 begins and ends with very similar statements that are meant to wrap up or tie together the entire chapter. To help us see the connections, I wanted us to focus on these verses simultaneously, Vs. 1, “O LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” and Vs. 9, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”

The first four words seen in both verses is O LORD, our Lord, which might sound a bit repetitive, but remember that anytime you see the word LORD in all capital letters, there’s a specific reason for it.

Whenever you see the word lord in all capital letters, the Bible is translating a specific word that actually differs to the second use of Lord that’s not in all capital letters.

Whenever you see the word LORD in all capital letters, the Bible is translating the personal name of God, which means that whenever you see the word LORD in all capital letters, the Bible is translating God’s name, which is Yahweh.

Whenever you see the word Lord in the Old Testament not in capital letters, the Bible is translating the Hebrew word adonai, which is the generic word for master, lord, or God.

Literally, what we see here is David calling God by name and claiming God to be his master. “O Yahweh, our adonai,” “O Yahweh, our master, our lord, our God.”

This shows us what David considers the relationship between God and man to be like and it shows us the relationship that David had with God.

God is the master, he is the lord, he is truly God. David isn’t and he is clear on his position before God.

He’s also clear on what his relationship with God is as well. Yahweh is very much the personal name of God. It isn’t a name to be uttered lightly, in fact, we’re warned to be sure that we don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.

And yet, we’re also told that his people can call him by name.

David in saying “O Yahweh, our God” makes it clear who he’s speaking to, he makes it clear what the relationship between him and God is like, and inadvertently, he keys us into what type of psalm or poem this is.

It is a personal psalm written by a man for God in which his focus is on God himself, which is why this psalm begins and ends in the same manner. “O Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth!”

The word majestic might be a bit unfamiliar to you because we don’t typically utilize the word today, so let’s get a good definition of what majestic means.

According to Oxford Languages, Majestic means “having or showing impressive beauty or dignity.”

The noun form of the word can be defined as “impressive stateliness, dignity, or beauty.

And that can be seen in the different English translations of Psalm 8.

ESV, NASB, and NIV all translate this “How majestic is your name”

The KJV translates this “How excellent is thy name”

The CSB translates this “How magnificent is your name”

Each translation is attempting to quantify something that’s totally unquantifiable, we can’t express how excellent, majestic, or magnificent God’s name is, we can simply proclaim the majesties of his name.

And David, says that God’s name is majestic in all the earth; or we can say it this way, “O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills all the earth.” Now you might hear that and you might wonder, “how exactly does a name fill all the earth?” Or “What makes his name majestic?”

In our modern sense of what a name is, we consider someone’s name just an identifier of who they are—my preferred name is Daniel, but not everyone calls me Daniel, some call me Dan, and some call me pastor; and in each case, those words just identify me from someone else.

In the Ancient Near East, the idea of a name is far greater than just an identifying word to differentiate someone from someone else. In the Ancient Near East, when they utilize the word name they’re not just talking about a word that identifies someone, they’re talking about that person’s standing, reputation, fame—everything about that person.

So, very literally, David is making the statement that God’s standing, his reputation, his fame, everything about him fills all the earth. Conversely, because God’s standing, reputation, fame, and everything about him fills the earth, the creation itself proclaims his glory (as Psalm 19 states).

God’s majestic name fills the earth, but David is quick to point out that God’s filling of all the earth with his name doesn’t negate God’s transcendence. Or in other words, God’s name fills the earth, but God is still exalted above all creation. David says it like this, “You have set your glory above the heavens.”

Occasionally, we focus so much on God’s desire to have a relationship with each and every believer that we neglect God’s transcendence. We’re blessed in that the Creator of all things wants to commune with us, but the truth is that God is still above us.

We’re blessed that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords wants to have an intimate relationship with us, but much like David, we need to recognize that God is still God. His name fills the earth, but God himself is still exalted above all creation.

David expounds on God’s transcendence in Vs. 2-3, let’s re-read those verses:

God’s Glory seen in Creation (2-3)

Psalm 8:2–3 ESV

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

Vs. 2 starts in an unusual way, “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.”

I say that it’s unusual because it seems as if David starts with one thought and completely changes gears multiple times. He starts by talking of babies and infants and it seems as if he completely changes topics because he jumps to the strength of foes and enemies and avengers.

So, let’s slow down and take a closer look at this. If we take a closer look at this verse (and pay a little attention to its grammar) I think we’ll understand it significantly better.

It’s easy to read this verse and think that the babies and infants are the subject of the verse, but in reality “out of the mouth of babies and infants” is a prepositional phrase.

This means that the subject of the verse actually starts after that phrase. The subject is “You,” which refers to Yahweh; and the verb is established.

Keeping that in mind, what David is writing is that Yahweh has established strength because of his enemies for the purpose of stilling the enemy and the avenger.

And Yahweh has done this out of babies’ and infants’ mouths. Or put another way as 1 Corinthians says, God has utilized the weak to confound the strong.

The issue that you might see in this, is that the verse itself might still be confusing to you. You might read it and think “how does God establish strength through the mouths of babies and infants?”

Babies and infants aren’t actually strong, so this verse must mean something other than babies and infants being physically strong.

So, let me posit an idea concerning this verse. Consider the fact that this is poetry; meaning, that the author is following a poetic writing style, which might not always put the words in order or it might seem as if a word is missing because the author is trying to adhere to a certain poem style.

In this case, I think we can determine the meaning of the text by understanding strength as being God’s strength. With that in mind, the verse would then mean that that out of the mouth of babies and infants, God’s strength has been established.

Which brings up another issue—God’s strength comes from him alone, not from his creation; so, how does a baby establish God’s strength? We can solve that issue by looking at all the different meanings of the word established. According to Oxford languages:

“set up on a firm or permanent basis”

“achieve . . . acceptance or recognition for”

“show to be true or certain by determining the facts.”

Let me suggest that David is utilizing the third definition of established. That God through the mouths of babies and infants shows his strength, which confounds his enemies and stills them.

Through God’s creation, of which babies and infants are a part of, we see God’s glory, but we see God’s glory in more than just babies and infants, Vs. 3 continues as we read more about God’s creation:

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,”

I realize that that isn’t a full sentence, but the start of Vs. 4 transitions to talking about man, so let’s briefly stop here and take a look at what David says about the heavens

When the Bible talks about the heavens in a plural form like this, in this context, what it’s referring to is all that is above us physically. David iterates this by expounding on what he means by heavens, “the moon and the stars.”

I think it helps for us to remember that David spent much of his young life as a shepherd; and during his lifetime, it was common for the shepherds to sleep out in the fields with the sheep to protect them from other animals.

Because of David’s role as a shepherd, he has spent a tremendous amount of time laying on the ground and looking up at the stars and the moon.

And as he reflects on this experience, he can’t help but to praise God for all that he has created.

It is notable, that David has no doubt that God put all the stars and the moon into place—he didn’t think it was a result of natural processes, he truly believed that God placed the stars into the sky by hand.

This understanding of creation is reflected elsewhere by David in Psalm 139:13, “For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made.” (NASB)

Quite frankly, when we see all creation around us, it ought to well up within us the same sort of praise that David had toward God when he reflected on creation.

The philosopher William Paley once utilized creation as a means to prove the existence of God and in his analogy, he speaks of the complexities of creation being too vast to have happened by chance.

William Paley, “In crossing a heath, supposed I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever: nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer I had before given, that for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there . . . There must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed [the watch] for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use . . . Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of [creation]; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation.” (Natural Theology (1802))

William Paley argues that creation is too vast and too complex to have simply always been, someone had to have created it.

David understand this truth just by looking at the stars and the moon

Then within David wells up the compulsion to praise and worship the LORD.

And as David continues to praise and worship the LORD, he turns to another part of God’s creation—mankind. Let’s re-read VS. 4-8.

Man’s Position in God’s Creation (4-8)

Psalm 8:4–8 ESV

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

David considers all of creation, particularly the stars and the moon in Vs. 3 and in the midst of praising God simply for his creation, he turns to mankind.

In light of all of God’s wondrous creations, he can’t help but to ask “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”

Considering all that God has created apart from mankind—the stars, the moons, the planets; and quite frankly, David only saw and understood a modicum of God’s creation and he couldn’t help but to ask (with his minute knowledge of creation) “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”

Consider all the advances that we’ve learned through genuine science (and I’m not talking about the evolutionary theory), I’m talking about legitimate scientific inquiry and discovery:

Since David’s life, we’ve discovered microbes, we’ve discovered atoms, we’ve harnessed materials that are able to power entire cities (speaking of power, when David was alive, they didn’t even have lightbulbs) but now, in the US, every single building has a lightbulb to give light all day and all night.

During David’s life, very few people traveled at all. It took a significant amount of time to walk from one town to the next, so the bulk of travel was only reserved during very important events, the rest of the time, the people stayed home. Many of us today, have been throughout Pennsylvania, some have traveled around the country, and a few have been able to travel outside of our country. And with as advanced as our technology—what would’ve taken them weeks to travel, can now be accomplished in a few hours by plane.

The very stars and moon and planets that David wondered at during his lifetime, we’ve seen in much clearer resolution—we’ve discovered planets that he couldn’t even imagine and galaxies that he couldn’t see.

And I say all this not to puff us up in our scientific discovery, but to point out that all of these scientific discoveries are our attempts at better understanding God’s creation.

But despite thousands of years of scientific inquiry and discovery, we’ve barely scratched the surface of all of God’s creation. In light of all of God’s wondrous creations, we should be asking the same question that David does, “what is man that you are mindful of him; and the son of man that you care for him?”

Or put a different way, considering all that God has created, what makes man so special that God would desire a relationship with man?

What makes man so different that God would show a special amount of care to him?

David continues contemplating God’s creation of man through the next four verses, “Yet you have made [man] 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.

What makes man so special? What makes man so different? It’s purely because God created man differently than he created his other creations; and we see that difference in the creation account itself.

All the way back in Genesis 1:26-31, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ 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 earth.’”

What makes man so different? It is purely because God made man in his image, after his likeness, and gave man the authority to have dominion over the rest of creation.

What does it mean to be made in God’s image and after his likeness?

It means that man is made in such a way that mankind resembles God to some extent—don’t misunderstand, this doesn’t mean that man is God or a god, it simply means that man is made with some characteristics similar to God.

I think Got Questions explains this well, “Mentally, humanity was created as a rational, volitional agent. In other words, human beings can reason and choose. This is a reflection of God’s intellect and freedom. . . Morally, humanity was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a reflection of God’s holiness. . . Our conscience or ‘moral compass’ is a vestige of that original state. . . Socially, humanity was created for fellowship. This reflect’s God’s triune nature and his love.”

This means that anytime someone invents something, writes a book, paints a painting, enjoys music, writes a law, recoils from evil, praises good, anytime someone gets married, makes a friend, hugs a child, or attends church, they’re demonstrating the fact that we are made in the likeness of God.

God created man different from the rest of his creation intentionally for mankind to reflect God’s character and it is that truth that David is reflecting on.

That even considering all the great creations of God, God cares for man because God created man in his image after his own likeness.

And because God created man in his own image; after his own likeness, mankind has dominion over all God’s creation, which is why all the scientific discoveries I mentioned earlier are even possible.

Because God created man in his own image, after his own likeness, mankind can be creative, can act in justice, can seek good, and can delight in fellowship.

Which brings us back to David’s question, when we consider all of creation, what makes man so special that God is mindful of man and that God cares of man?

It’s simply because God chose man to be created in his image

It’s simply because God gave man dominion over his creation

And it’s simply because God is sovereign enough that when he decreed man to be in his image and he gave man dominion over creation, that’s precisely what happened.

But there’s one more issue that we should talk about before jumping into application, and that issue is this—God created man in his image and after creating all things he declared it all good. However, due to the fall of mankind into sin found in Genesis 3, we find ourselves in a different situation

Because man is made in God’s image, but sin marred and scarred us, we have to consider how the repercussions effect us.

Yes, we’re made in God’s image, after his own likeness, but sin has a detrimental effect on us. We have been bent towards sin, which means that despite being made in God’s image, after his own likeness, we don’t reflect God’s image very well all the time.

In fact, many times, we don’t reflect God’s image the way we ought to whatsoever—we succumb to sin, we do evil deeds, we live our lives in such a way that we don’t reflect God’s image whatsoever.

Quite frankly, what Scripture teaches us is that apart from Jesus’ sacrificial atonement for our sins, you’ll never reflect God’s image completely.

That means unbelievers can reflect aspects of God’s character and image—there are unbelievers that try to be good, they try to do what’s right. Unbelievers can create beautiful works of art and they can appreciate communing with other people just as much as believers.

But apart from true repentance and belief, they can’t possibly reflect God’s image completely.

In fact, on this side of eternity, no one can reflect God’s image completely, but what Scripture teaches is that through the process of sanctification, Jesus is making you complete; and that process will make you a complete reflection of God’s image one day.

The image of God that you were made to reflect and the likeness of God that is in you was certainly marred by sin, but Jesus has made a way for you to be restored.

It’s no wonder then that the psalmist can’t help but to end this psalm in the same manner of its beginning.

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

We can certainly join him in proclaiming the same.

In our last few moments, I want us to spend a bit of time focusing on how we can apply this text to our lives today. There’s actually a lot of ways that we can do so, but I want to focus on the more apparent ways that we can apply this text to our lives.

Application

The Majesty of God (Vs. 1, 9)--I’ve mentioned a handful of times since we’ve started this series that there are many things that we can learn through the psalms concerning how we ourselves pray today. There are all sorts of psalms, which arguably all began as prayers—from simple prayers of thanksgiving, to prayers of intercession, and imprecatory prayers. This psalm is a prayer of praise that celebrates God’s glory and his grace. So, what exactly can we learn from Vs. 1 and 9?

We need to be more intentional with our own prayers and we need to be more intentional with our worship of God.

Often, when we come to the LORD in prayer and praise, we’re very loose with our preparation of doing so, which makes it very easy for our prayers to be nothing more than a list of requests and our praise to be sloppy.

David doesn’t do that in Psalm 8, in fact, in his Hebraic poetry, there’s a structure that begins and ends with praise. There’s in-depth concepts being explored as he reflects on creation and the Creator.

David is speaking truths that he’s taken time to really reflect on and learn, which is why Vs. 5-8 are so similar to Genesis 1, he’s learned Scripture well enough that he can’t help but to recall it as he reflects on God’s creation.

In many ways, David’s prayers remind me of Puritan prayers from recent years that are more reflective and less focused on material gain or health.

And I would argue that it shows us a spiritual maturity that many of us today haven’t attained. David is pleased to just proclaim the majesty of God in his psalm, there’s much that we can learn from his proclamation.

So, the question is, how can we get better at doing what David does in our own prayer and praise life? How can we grow to be please to simply proclaim the majesty of God? And I have many suggestions for this, but I think just two will work for now:

First, stop treating God like he is a genie seeking to grant your wishes and stop utilizing prayer as the means to ask for those wishes

And second, start seeing God the same way that David sees God—as majestic whose glory is above the heavens; as the creator who placed the stars in the heavens, and the one who made all that you see before you.

God created you in his image; you didn’t create him in your image. God created you for his glory and honor; and he’s chosen to allow you the opportunity to share in his image and likeness.

So, what is our overarching application for this whole psalm? It’s quite simple, learn to praise God through your prayer; and then actually praise God.

God’s Glory seen in Creation (2-3), reflects on God’s creation—from infants and babies praising God’s strength, to the heavens in which God has set the moon an stars, to all the various scientific discoveries that have been made throughout all of our lifetimes, we see God’s glory through all these creations. I have two applications for these two verses:

Learn to appreciate God’s creation—take time to do precisely what David does and just reflect on all that God has created. We serve a creative God who has created everything from the complex nature of our solar system, to the even more complex nature of certain lifeforms at all.

He has created all things in such a way that without a creator our universe logically couldn’t exist. He has created more things than we could ever identify in such a way that there will always be aspects of creation that we simply don’t understand.

Reflect on the complexities of creation and allow it to draw you into deeper worship of God. Realize how amazing the world around us is and then recognize that the creator must be several times more amazing.

We serve a creative God who utilized his words to make everything that you see—appreciate his creation.

Learn to elevate God above his creation—realizing the beauty and complexities of creation sometimes causes people to elevate the creation above the Creator

That’s why we have so many organizations that are dedicated towards protecting the environment and preventing the destruction of natural landmarks.

Don’t get me wrong, part of man’s dominion over creation is proper stewardship of all that God has given us, so don’t think I’m saying that you should go outside, litter, light a tree on fire, and unnecessarily kill animals. God has given us stewardship over his creation and thus, we should keep that in mind

However, what some organizations do is absurd. To prevent any sort of progress to save the environment also isn’t good stewardship of what God has given us.

So, appreciate God’s creation, but don’t elevate God’s creation above its creator. A national forest can be abundantly beautiful, but the national forest isn’t as important as God is.

Many of us have pets and pets can be a good part of life—they provide company, they can help people emotionally, and they can protect their owners; but a pet can’t be elevated to the same level as God.

And that might sound crazy to you—who would elevate a pet to the same level as God? Or a forest to the same importance as God?

But there are plenty of people who try to become one with nature, who worship the spirits of creatures and plants, who elevate creation above a creator.

Learn to appreciate God’s creation, but never elevate it above him.

Man’s Position in God’s Creation (4-8)—and lastly, in Vs. 4-8, we see David’s reflection on man’s position due to God. We see that despite all of God’s creation, God has a special interest in mankind, that he is mindful of man and cares for man. David says that God made man a little lower than the angels and has given mankind dominion over all of creation. I have two application points for these last few verses:

Consider the blessings that we experience because God has determined man’s position.

Man’s position as the steward over creation, the very fact that man was created in God’s image after his own likeness was a choice by God. God in his sovereignty and his providence created man in his image and likeness simply because he chose to.

God didn’t need to make man, he chose to make man; God didn’t need to make man in his own image after his own likeness, he chose to make man in his own image and after his own likeness.

God didn’t need to give man some of his own characteristics—he didn’t need to make us creative like him, moralistic like him, social like him; he chose to give us those characteristics.

That alone is something to praise God for, but I’m mentioning it for a specific reason, and it’s this:

Recognizing how God created you in his image and after his likeness, but sin marred it, should cause you to desire the ability to reflect God’s image in a more complete way.

Or in other words, recognizing that this is not how creation was supposed to be, this is not how life was supposed to be, being in sin is not how you were supposed to be; ought to cause thanksgiving within you that Jesus came to redeem you out of this marred life.

And Jesus is making you more like himself, which means, you are blessed in that you’re becoming more like Jesus simply because God has chosen to make you in his image after his likeness.

So consider the blessings that you experience as a person, give thanks to the LORD, and praise him for it.

Then, consider how much greater God is in light of man’s position.

The only person that could choose for man to be in the position that he’s in is someone who is far greater than man.

God is far greater than man—always keep that in mind.

Put simply, what we see in Psalm 8 is David’s praise of the LORD; and it teaches us to: (1) learn to appreciate creation, but ultimately worship the creator; (2) recognize who you are because of God and who God is; and (3) praise God in light of who he is.

Prayer Requests

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

Pastor Nate Humphrey - He formerly served as the Youth Pastor at the Newark Baptist Temple in Heath, Ohio; he and his family just moved to Spartanburg, SC so that he could pastor International Baptist Church. Please pray for his family to make the adjustment well.

Pray for the remaining renovation work—we’re currently $5,000 short of completing all of the projects. Continue to pray for the Lord’s provision of these funds. What has already been paid for should be done within the next few weeks.

Continue praying for Philipsburg and the surrounding areas; that we can be utilized of God to continue making mature believers of Jesus Christ.