Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
This is a basic philosophic existential question.
What is man?
What is man in the totality of things?
Depending on your focus you could answer that question differently.
Following the theory put forth by Darwin man is essentially insignificant.
If you focus only on the natural world or “everything under the sun” you must look at everything without a creator.
The evolutionary process relegates man to be being nothing more than a product of accidental chance and just another animal species on the earth.
If you look to the “accomplishments” of man a tendency to worship men and think they are great - worthy of worship comes bubbling up.
Ability to make great wonders of the world.
Tower of Babel, Hanging Gardens of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, Empire after empire.
Each at its time significant and an achievement - but none have stood the test of time.
Each has crumbled and gone away.
Ecclesiastes 1 - the Philosophy of Solomon is futile - when viewed in the perspective of under the sun.
Psalm 8 is written by David and it is for the choir director on the Gittith.
A gittith perhaps referring to Gath - a tune from there or an instrument, perhaps a song sung over Goliath?
While we are not entirely clear on the meaning we have some convincing opinions.
Tracing the Hebrew to its roots, conceive it to mean a song for the winepress, a joyful song for the treader of grapes.
Another belief is while it means winepress it could indicate an instrument shaped like a winepress.
The Greeks took the word and the instrument which it represented and called it a kithara and from that comes the Spanish guitarria and our English word guitar.
The term gittith is applied to two other Psalms (81 and 84) both of which being of a joyous character.
It is safe to assume that where we gittith we look for a joyful Psalm.
Another possible title to the Psalm is the song of the astronomer.
God is indescribably great, and man in contrast is puny and insignificant.
Yet there is a conferred glory and honor from God upon man.
This Psalm demonstrates an eloquent grasp of the wonder of this fact from David - that helps us to answer the philosophical question of what is man -balanced understanding gained by looking at the night time sky.
“There is much in the scenery of a nocturnal sky, to lift the soul to pious contemplation.”
Spurgeon.
God’s Magnificent Majesty
The answer to the question begins by looking to the creator and not to the created to determine its use, worth or significance.
David didnt and I am not going to either; defend the fact of a Creator I am taking it as an agreed upon belief and a fact knowable by all.
David looks to the creator - God and says LORD our Lord.
If you look closely in your Bible LORD is all caps and the second Lord only capitalizes the L and this is by design and not typo or grammatical error.
LORD all caps is used when the name of God - the tetragrammaton YHWH is used - which we usually ascribe either Jehova or Yahweh.
This is the name of God given to Moses at the burning bush.
I AM WHO I AM is also all caps - again this is the Tetragrammaton.
I AM WHO I AM is the name of God.
Now the second Lord - single letter capitalized is the word Adonai - Lord and or Master.
The first LORD is the name of God and the second is the title or position of Yahweh to His people.
The name of God is a covenant name - I AM WHO I AM - is because God in many way s reveals Himself and His love and His character through the names He gives.
Jehovah or Yahweh Jireh - the Lord who provides
Jehovah or Yahweh Rophe - the Lord who heals
Yahweh Nissi - the Lord is your banner
Yahweh-M’Keddesh - the Lord makes you holy
El Roi - the Lord who sees me and cares
El the mighty God the strong one
El Elohim - Plural of Majesty
Yahweh Elohim - the Lord God the Lord God Almighty
David recognizes the covenant name of God LORD and His title Lord.
The Lord has as many titles as He does names and each one tells of His strength, power, majesty, knowledge, His character, His promises.
Truly how magnificent is His name throughout all the earth!
Magnificent speaks of the majestic, awe inspiring, and reverence calling character of the name of God.
A name was more than what you called someone a name is what defined someone.
Ecclesiastes 7:1 (CSB)
1 A good name is better than fine perfume
You have covered the heavens - the abode of God and the angels with Your majesty.
Majesty evident throughout creation.
God’s glory is higher than the heavens.
If only person has eyes to see and look around the world is teeming with the fingerprints and the wisdom and power of God our creator.
God’s sovereignty is encompassed as we think of His majesty as well.
The words Magnificent and Majestic always direct my mind to royalty and those who sit on thrones.
The power of God displayed through the weakness and frailty of mankind.
From the mouths of nursing babies and infants the Lord has established (assigned a duty or responsibility) a stronghold (strength - whether physically or mentally strong) on account of your adversaries.
The NIV translates the word instead of stronghold but praises.
The idea that the sovereign authority of God is that the weak shall confound the strong.
The weakness of mankind represents the strength of God throughout the heavens and the earth.
There is glory of God in heaven seen in creation but nothing compared to what is shown through redemption.
The praises of the people of God have a strength and a power which nothing can withstand.
God inhabits the praises of His people - where the people praise Him God is there.
Man’s Seeming Insignificance
David on this thought takes the two points together - Gods creation and mans redemption to ask the question what is a human being -what is man?
David says I observe and I perceive Your heavens - the moon and the stars and your work in them.
Staring at the night sky - perhaps still a shepherd David sees the moon and the stars and how they are placed in their very spots by the Lord wonders in light of all you are who are we as man - more importantly who am I?
No branch of science proclaims God’s greatness and man’s insignificance more powerfully than astronomy.
Measuring distance your new ruler is a light year - the distance light travels in a year.
Light travels at 186,000 miles per second and there are 31.5 million seconds in a year - if my math is still good that equates to roughly 6 trillion miles in a single year.
Some stars that we are seeing are billions of light-years away.
The size of the universe is such that if we could travel at the speed of light it would take 40 billion years.
When you look at up at night and consider the heavens we are once again confronted with greatness of God and our own seeming insignificance
An explorer by the name of William Beebe was a good friend of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Sometimes when he visited the President at Sagamore Hill, the two men would go outdoors at night to see who could first locate the Andromeda galaxy.
Then, as they gazed at the tiny smudge of distant starlight, one of them would recite,
“That is the spiral galaxy of Andromeda.
It’s as large as our Milky Way.
It is one of 100 million galaxies.
It is 750,000 light years away.
It consists of 100 billion suns, each larger than our sun.”
Then Roosevelt would grin and say, “Now I think we are small enough!
Let’s go to bed.”
Planet earth is a speck of dust in the universe and if this is so what is a single man perched upon this planet?
One of my favorite groups is Casting Crowns and they have a song called Who Am I and it is a look how insignificant we as people are yet God cares to know us
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the bright and morning star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?
David acknowledges that despite the seeming insignificance of man God still remembers man and looks after - cares for Him.
God is interested in every individual and has personal intimate concern for every human being.
David does not doubt that God is mindful just wonders why.
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