A Devotional Thought from Psalm 8:1–9
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength
Because of thine enemies,
That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
And hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen,
Yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1–9
I have no idea when David was inspired to write this Psalm. Maybe he wrote it while he was a shepherd on a clear night as he looked into the sky. I imagine him looking at a full moon and stars that decorate the night sky and the vastness and beauty make him think of the Creator. Have you ever done that? I sure have! I recall my first cruise as I looked out over the ocean and how my soul was filled with wonder or that first flight when my heart was lifted to the heavens as the plane flew over the clouds. I like David viewed the work of God’s fingers and was drawn toward worship. Buzz did too! He repeated the words of this Psalm as he beheld the workmanship of his creator. I am speaking of Aldrin not Lightyear in case you were wondering. When the Apollo made it’s landing on the moon he read the words of this Psalm from the surface.
I would like to point out three things about this Psalm.
1. Mankind’s Worth
David was in awe that a God so big that he could create all that we see with his fingers still had little David on his mind. What is mankind that you think of us? We should not even be a blip on his radar and yet he thinks of us. He cares about us!
Do you know how important you are dear reader? You captivate the mind of the creator of it all!
2. Mankind’s Woe
The psalm tells how God made mankind a little lower than the angels and yet gave him glory and honor. (Vs.5) He gave man dominion over creation. (Vs. 6) In other words, he left mankind in charge. Adam was not afraid of lions, bears or even snakes. He was their boss, their supervisor and even gave each one their name.
He was in charge of all the animals with fur and fleece (vs. 7), of creatures with feather and with fins (vs.8). But then came sin and with it man lost his dominion over creation.
The author of Hebrews adds this commentary when quoting this Psalm.
Hebrews 2:8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
Mankind is no longer the boss! That is why we are afraid of bears, lions and snakes. They no longer obey us. Just to be sure of what I am saying I tested my hypothesis. I told a few crows outside my house to go away. I could read their bird brains as they just stared my way, “you ain’t the boss of us!” I told a fish to bite my hook and guess what? The didn’t obey! As a matter a fact, the more I screamed at them the less biting they seemed to do. We have lost our dominion. A big God loved little ole man so much that he gave him the world and he sold it for a bite out of an apple.
There is a third observation that I would like to make about this Psalm.
3. Mankind’s Win
When the author of Hebrews was quoting this Psalm and made his observations he said,
“But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus… Heb. 2:8-9
God was so mindful of fallen man that he came to us. He became man and took back the dominion that Adam had lost.
He rode a donkey colt that had never been ridden into Jerusalem.
He told Peter exactly when a rooster would crow and he didn’t do it too early or too late.
He told Peter to go catch a fish and reach inside it’s mouth and find enough money to pay their taxes. Do you realize the control one must have over creation to teach a fish to go fetch?
He showed control over creatures with fur, feathers and even fins.
He told the winds to hush and the waters to calm, he even made liquids solidify and become a perfect path for walking. Everything Adam lost, Jesus regained. He even stretched out those wonderful creating and controlling hands and allowed them to be nailed to a cross to regain his prize creation. No wonder this Psalm closes with these wonderful words
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9
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