Summer of Psalms
Psalm 8
We are continuing our Summer of Psalms series. Something I like about the Psalms is there is a psalm for every emotion. The Psalms cover joy, praise, sadness, sorrow, anger, wonder, awe, victory, defeat, and everything in between. You name it there is pretty much a psalm that deals with it.
I want to share why this Psalm is special to me. It’s my Grandma Staten’s fault. I don’t remember exactly what year, but somewhere between 2nd and 5th, Grandma was in charge of vacation bible school. The theme song that year was This is My Father’s World, and creation was the overall theme. For the VBS program at the end of the week, Grandma wanted me to memorize and recite Psalm 8:3-9. I figured I could just read it. No one would know. The pulpit was large, and no one could see what was on it except the person standing there. Grandma and I argued even up to Sunday afternoon. Let me be clear, Grandma won the argument.
This is the first Bible verse I recall memorizing, other than John 3:16, or John 11:35 (Jesus wept).
Psalm 8 is a psalm of David. Depending on the Bible version the introduction to Psalms 8, 81, and 84 says that it is to be played on the gittith, which is derived from the Hebrew word “Gath”. Gath may refer to where the giant, Goliath was from, or a type of stringed instrument from Gath. Gath also signified a winepress in Hebrew. The psalms mentioning the gittith called for an animated music.
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants
to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
and all who oppose you.
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! (NLT)
Psalm 8 is often used to remind us of our duty to care for the earth, and all of God’s creation. Psalm 8 is one of several creation Psalms, including 19, 29, and 104. Bonheoffer says that Psalm 8 praises God’s name, and his gracious act to humans as the crown of His work. Today I want to focus on verses 3-5, and remind us that we are God’s crown jewel in His creation.
Bottom Line: We are the crown of God’s creation.
1) God created the entire universe.
Genesis chapters 1 and 2 tell us the story of creation. God created everything. The sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, fish, everything from the simplest element, and single celled organism, to the most complex molecules, and the most complex life. And at each stage, as He spoke each thing into existence, God called it good. The light was good. Land and seas were good. Plants were good. The sun, the moon, and the stars were declared good. Fish and birds were good. Finally, he created the animals and called it good.
There is a video on YouTube that helps explain the relative size of things in the universe. Click here to watch just the first 5 minutes. (Or watch the entire video, if you like.)
Do you feel insignificant now that you’ve watched the first five minutes of that video? Have you ever looked up at the night sky, and wondered what is out there? Does it ever make you feel small, and insignificant? I will admit to being just a little bit of a science fiction geek. And I sometimes wonder, did God create life on some distant planet, in another galaxy? Does it matter, though?
2) Even in our apparent insignificance, God has crowned us and given us authority.
The very last thing God created was humans. Genesis 1:26 tells us that God said “Let us make human beings in our image….” Only after creating humans, did God look at everything and call it very good. (Genesis 1:31) And the verses in between 26 to 31 tell us that He gave us authority. We have the authority to use the resources of His creation.
Verse 6 of this Psalm reminds us that He has put everything under our authority. That means ALL of creation. We are still exploring, and learning about just planet earth. And we have barely begun to explore just outside our own planet, and our galaxy.
Invitation:
Hebrews 2:6-8 refers back to Psalm 8:4-6.
And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. For in one place the Scriptures say,
“What are mere mortals that you should think about them,
or a son of man that you should care for him?
Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them authority over all things.” (Hebrews 2:5-8a)
This is also a Christological Psalm, because it also refers to Christ, the Messiah. Hebrews 2 continues, beginning in the second part of verse 8 that we don’t yet see everything under our authority. But what we do see is Jesus Christ, who was briefly made a little lower that the angels, suffered and died for us, and he is now crowned with glory and honor.
We are so important to God, that even after we have sinned, deserving death, and permanent separation from God, He still made a way to redeem us, and He still calls us to Him today.
We truly are the crown jewel of His creation.
Do you know Him?