Psalm 8

Hello everyone! Thank you for joining me today as we spend time with God and hearing from Him.

So, the readings for today:

POWERPOINT

Today's Readings: Psalm 8-9

Monday’s Readings: Psalms 10-11

Today I am starting with:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

When through the woods and forest glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in, That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, And there proclaim, My God, how great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee: How great thou art! How great thou art!

Psalm 8 Looking upwards - not downwards

This Psalm for many including me is one of my favourites. It is all about God and our relation to Him in creation.

Psalms, Volume 1: (Psalms 1–41): An Expositional Commentary Psalm 8: Our God, Our Glory

celebration of the surpassing majesty of God (vv. 1–2); confession of the insignificance of man (vv. 3–4); astonishment at the significance of man (vv. 5–8); and a concluding refrain that repeats the psalm’s first lines (v. 9).

Earlier in the week I spoke of the vastness of the universe yet it is but a scroll in God’s hand. The universe that contains, that we know of 200 billion galaxies each with a 100 billion stars. The result of such is praise to our God. It inspired the hymn we read at the beginning and many others like it. We have to look up to see His majesty. Our responsibility is to praise God.

And then we look at where we fit into this. What are we in such a vastness? We are not even a blip of a blip, truly, it would seem, insignificant and yet it seems God has a special place for us. We are placed slightly lower than God. The NIV translates it as angels but it is the Hebrew plural word for God used here: Elohim. In verse 1 His glory is over everything and yet here in verse 5 we are crowned with glory. Clearly this is creation depicted here for it was Elohim who made us in His own image. We have been made in His image, we are designed to rule as we are told in Genesis 2. We have been given a significance above all over created things and in it we are to look upwards to our Creator.

But all too often we look down to the animals and cast ourselves in their image. This is what the theory of evolution does. It places us with the beasts of the field. No wonder in a world, even now here in the West, we have collectively jettisoned God, we behave like animals and do things even animals would not do.

But in the order of creation we are cast to be like God but that image has been seriously marred and God had to send Jesus, who did become lower than the angels we are told in Hebrews 2 to restore us to our created place:

Psalms, Volume 1: (Psalms 1–41): An Expositional Commentary “But We See Jesus”

We see Jesus … now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.… Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus” (Heb. 2:9; 3:1).

We should meditate on this Psalm over the weekend, we need to lift our eyes to God, be taken in by how awesome He is and how gracious He has been for He is our God:

Psalm 8:9 ESV

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

(LET ME CLOSE THIS DEVOTION WITH)

prayer; confession..martyrs, thanksgiving, supplicaiton…beryl J, Jan, Gwyeth, Kath

Daily Weekday Devotional With Ian

YouTube Notes

Today's Readings: Psalm 8-9

Monday’s Readings: Psalms 10-11

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https://IanMThomas.com

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Bibliography

Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.