“O Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth! You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! From the mouths of children and nursing babies you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made, and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them, and make them a little less than the heavenly beings? You grant mankind honor and majesty; you appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority, including all the sheep and cattle, as well as the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea and everything that moves through the currents of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth!”
Psalms 8:1-9 NET
The first thing I want to do is acknowledge the obvious, and that is this. I am an idiot for attempting to do something counterproductive. The purpose of having a book like Psalms is that it’s different than all the other books of the Bible. How? It’s poetry. It’s a songbook. It’s filled with emotion and imagery. And though it contains some powerful theology, and it’s completely accurate in all that it teaches, it’s written how it’s written for a reason—so that the reader can perhaps study the historical context of the Psalmist and the socio-cultural context of the day to learn what’s going on, but then to relate to how the Psalmist feels and then to sing along in whatever emotional state to praise God or to express confidence in God despite his or her troubles.
Psalms is different in that it’s not an epistle. It’s not a story. There’s no explanation. It’s not prose. There’s not a bunch of commands, except to praise God because of these things. You’re just supposed to read it and “get it,” in its context. I am being counterproductive by attempting to teach the Psalms. I takes what’s poetic and emotional and strip it of its beauty by turning it back into logical prose and instructional and basically into an epistle.
Verse 1 and v. 9 are identical. What do you think is the main point of this Psalm?
David has bracketed the entire contents of this Psalm with the exact words. This is the point. God’s majesty. His awesomeness. His glory is declared throughout all the earth. And don’t forget who exactly David is singing about. This is ALL CAPS Lord. This is Yahweh. This is the personal God of Israel who led them out of Egypt. This is the self-sufficient I AM who is all powerful and present everywhere, and David now says that the reputation, for that’s what name really entails is known everywhere and fills the earth. His glory is displayed in all places.
What gets your attention? What amazes you? Maybe you’re awestruck by a fantastic catch by a wide receiver and maybe you aren’t. Or a super cool car. Maybe you lose words when you see the most beautiful sunset, and maybe you don’t. But what amazes you? Is God awesome to you? Do you know Him well enough to where He astounds you?
David gives us one reason in this Psalm broken into two parts as to why God should impress us beyond imagination. What makes God so majestic? What puts God’s power and glory on full display? Let’s keep reading. End of v. 1 and 2.
Now that’s pretty confusing. Where did these babies come from? I know where babies come from—I asked what are they doing in this passage? They seem completely random. Somehow God has established strength and conquered enemies just by babies’ talking. And they “still” or force God’s enemies to be quiet. What do the babies say? We don’t know. But the weakest of creatures is used to oppose and conquer the enemies of God. I’m going to move on, but just keep that in mind.
Do you ever feel weak? Do you ever feel small? Insignificant? Maybe not. Do you ever struggle with pride and maybe need to feel weak and insignificant sometimes? Well, I can help you. I’ve got the cure. If you ever are feeling on top of the world or like you are just the coolest person, like it’s a privilege for people to know you—-Do you ever have days like that?
Well, here’s an exercise to just erase all those thoughts like right away. Go online and for 10 minutes, research anything you can about outer space. It will not only astound you but also leave you thinking you’re the most insignificant creature in the universe. And so I’m not going to wax eloquently about space, mostly because I don’t know much of anything. Louie Giglio is famous for his presentations on space before Chris Tomlin sings his famous songs about God’s greatness and how “Indescribable” He is.
And it’s no wonder that David penned v. 3-4.
See the parallelism? It means the same thing. Who are we that you care about us? Who are we that you even think about us? That we even exist? That we think we can do anything? That we deserve anything? That we are worth anything? What is humanity? What can they do compared to God? They are not even worth mentioning.
But remember, the point of this Psalm is what? God’s glory and majesty. Well, yea I get that. He’s beating me over the head into humility. No, not so fast. That’s true, but there’s a greater point here about how God’s name and majesty is seen. It is seen in the heavens and in space. It does outshine anything weak and frail humans can do. But the song doesn’t end there.
Verses 5-8.
In all of man’s weakness and inability compared to God, in all of his insignificance, he has been given a role and a position over God’s beautiful and good creation. He has been granted a place of authority just beneath the angels. He has been exalted in the hierarchy to be separate from the animals to rule over the animals and to organize and have dominion and to govern well what God has made. In the midst of his frailty, in the midst of what seems like foolishness, though it doesn’t make sense, though he’s small and weak compared to God’s might and power, though he’s stuck over here in a small corner of the vast universe, God in His wisdom has exalted one species to rule and govern His creation. And somehow that marks or displays God’s majesty and magnificence and awesomeness to the world.
How?
It’s the same truth that’s taught on nearly every page of the Bible. Like in 1 Corinthians 1:27-28. God chose the foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is low, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” Or in 2 Corinthians 12. When Paul has his thorn in the flesh and begs God to take it away. God says no, because His power was made perfect in Paul’s weakness. God loves to use weak things to show off His power.
By the way, that’s how the opening paragraph about babies fits in here, too. The weakest and most dependent of all humans are used by God somehow -- it’s not exactly clear -- to still and conquer His enemies.
The glory of God’s strength and majesty as displayed in the expanse of the universe is even greater because it is established by using human weakness and foolishness to accomplish His purpose. He uses us to govern His works. I don’t understand why He would do that.
So what does this Psalm make me feel or instruct me to do or teach me about myself or God? Well, it really does help me get an appropriate view of myself. I am small. I am weak. I am nothing. In the expanse of the universe, I am pretty insignificant. And if I think I am the center of anything, I need to think again. On the other hand, God considers me. God cares for me. And that immediately gives me status. And He has given me responsibility to govern His creation and have dominion over His works. He is using me for His own glory. He is using the weak things to express and display His own power. That’s pretty awesome.
But He can’t use me unless I know that I am weak without Him. He can’t get glory from a proud man except by breaking him. So, again, what amazes you? Are you in awe of God and the works of His hands and the fact that He chose to use somebody like you and me to house sit for Him? He truly is a majestic God.
