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blog meditation Psalms

Meditation Psalm 8a

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honour.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

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

(Ps. 8:1-9 NIV)

We have been considering a series of Lament Psalms where God appears to be hidden. The Psalmist calls for God to arise (3:7), for God to answer (4:1), for God to listen to my words (5:1), for God to turn and deliver (6:4) and for the LORD to arise (7:6). In Psalm 8 we see the LORD who displays His glory in all the earth, in the heavens above and in the creation of humanity. This praise for the joy of creation, not apart from God the Creator (like Pantheism) but to always see creation as a product of the Creator and have joy in creation because of the Creator and Sustainer of the world.

The name of God represents not just the majesty of His name alone, but also the revelation of God. The majestic name permeates all the earth and the starry heavens.

God uses the weakness of infants and babies to oppose His enemies. God’s enemies do not recognise the name of God or the revelation of God in all creation. The infants and babies have a greater strength than that of God’s enemies. God’s enemies imagine the position that they have, and the influence that they exert, the control that they have and the victories that they have won. They don’t acknowledge God’s name but the volume of their evil song is drowned by the anthems and choruses of the children–‘LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.’ We all have stood outside on a dark night and the vastness of the night sky and the panoply of bright stars has helped us feel our finitude and insignificance. But this should also turn our minds to the magnitude, almighty power and greatness of our Creator God. God created the vast universe and the expanse of the galaxies that stretch to light years away from earth. By the work of God’s fingers He gently adds the finishing touches by delicately putting into its final place, the moon and the stars. This vast expanse is but a tiny work put in place as a fingertip exercise by our Creator God- ‘LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!’

Yes, we are so incredibly a tiny speck in all creation, yet God has given us dignity. It is a derived dignity, given by God. God has bestowed the highest honour on humanity by creating us just a little lower than the heavenly beings.

Though the vastness of all the earth and the heavens gives us a sense of insignificance, yet God has given us a position of strength and responsibility. This never becomes a natural right. (God’s enemies assume it as a right). It is always given by God. Everything has been put under our feet, everything including the inhabitants of the air, the earth and the sea. Having been amazed at the grandeur of God’s creation and the dignity given to humanity the Psalmist returns to his original praise – ‘LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!’

Prayer
Majestic covenant LORD, how small we are in the whole of the earth and in the glory of the heavens. Yet you sent Your Son to redeem us. What was it O our LORD that caused you to love us and redeem us as a people for Yourself. Help us to understand the dignity of every human and the preciousness of our brothers and sisters in Christ, to the glory of our covenant Saviour, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen