Psalm 8 – How Majestic Is the Lord!
Psalm 8 – How Majestic Is the Lord!
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 22, 2007 AM
At one point along the Saguenay River in southeastern Canada, the water flows through a chasm between two rugged rock formations. Their pinnacles tower over 1,600 feet into the sky. Early pioneers were so awestruck by these majestic crags that they named them Trinity and Eternity. These two great truths expressed by these words should create a sense of awe in the heart of every Christian. H. W. Robinson writes that “At the heart of the Christian faith is mystery, because at the heart of our faith is the eternal, triune God. We have the Father who loves us, the Savior who died for us, and the Spirit who helps us to be holy. This divine mystery gives us reason to bow down and worship our eternal God.”
The Psalmist would agree with H. W. and expressed his own awe of God. In fact there are some passages of Scripture that are so eloquent that they rival any modern day poet in style or grandeur. We discover that so inspired of God was David that all he could repeat was how majestic is the Lord! As we take a closer look at this wonderful piece of poetry we will also come away with a renewed awe and wonder of just how majestic is the Lord.
READ: Psalm 8
It has always amazed me but every time I have gotten into simple discussion with small children about God, they never question His existence. I have, however, often heard adults who think of themselves as “wise” use some of the most childish excuses why they do not want to follow Jesus Christ. David, a grown man, who later would be king over all of Israel and one of its most famous and successful rulers, would readily tell anyone, from his trusted generals to his most esteemed advisers…
I. How majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty! (vv. 1-2, 9)
1. God’s children have no problem in believing in God! David was constantly in awe of who God was. So much so that we find him beginning this psalm and ending it with the same declaration, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Notice whose “Lord” God was: “Our Lord,” David says. It is a personal declaration of God’s intimate care for him and his people. Addressing God by His personal name Yahweh (“Lord”), David identifies Him as “our Lord” (a?d?o?nay), the Sovereign Master and king even over himself, the King of Israel! David understood that even when he was victorious in battle, who was it that shouted God’s praise in the streets? The children! So with a kind of wonder David relates, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise!” Children innately know who brings blessing in life. The idea is that the Lord has ordained that the weakest shall confound the strong, even the enemies of God’s people, “to silence the foe and the avenger!” We later find that “when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things [Jesus] did and the children shouting in the temple area, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise”?’” (Matthew 21:15-16) David had no problem in relating just how majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty!
EXAMPLE: I have seen little children bring their unbelieving parents to childlike faith in Christ simply by their own love and devotion to the Lord. Helen Steiner Rice writes in her poem, “A Child's Faith,” this idea:
A Childlike Faith, by Helen Steiner Rice
“Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so.”
Little children ask no more,
For love is all they’re looking for,
And in a small child’s shining eyes
The Faith of all the ages lies.
And tiny hands and tousled heads
That kneel in prayer by little beds
Are closer to the dear Lord’s heart
And of His kingdom more a part
Than we who search, and never find
The answer to our questioning mind.
For Faith in things we cannot see
Requires a child’s simplicity
For, lost in life’s complexities,
We drift upon uncharted seas
And slowly Faith disintegrates
While wealth and power accumulate.
And the more man learns, the less he knows,
And the more involved his thinking grows
And, in his arrogance and pride,
No longer is man satisfied
To place his confidence and love
With childlike Faith in God above.
Oh, Father grant once more to men
A simple childlike Faith again.
And, with a small child’s trusting eyes
May all men come to realize
That Faith alone can save man’s soul
And lead him to a Higher Goal.
Like David, we should have no problem in relating just how majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty! It is a childlike faith of awe. Yet we can also look at the world around us and know just how marvelous God is. It has always made me wonder at just how spiritually blind people can be when they cannot look at creation and see the “handprint of God.” David would declare…
II. How Majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation! (vv. 3-8)
1. When we truly look at God’s handiwork, we stand in awe of Who he is! David could not believe what he saw when he looked up into the desert sky at night. Even with his army about him, David understood that he was simply insignificant compared to what was displayed before his minute being. He would declare, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?” How could an infinite Creator be concerned for an insignificant man? It was more than David could comprehend. David relates, “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings,” meaning that human beings were created as God’s own representatives on earth, over His Creation, but lower than God or His angels. In fact, David knows that God “made” mankind “ruler over the works of [God’s] hands!” He goes on to say that, “You put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” The connotation is that humans are to be God’s good stewards of His creation! When God created humans, He made them to have “dominion” over all of the earth (Genesis 1:26). Dominion was not intended to be domination or exploitation. Jesus took this a step further and rejoiced over a person’s willingness to give their whole selves to Him. Jesus calls all disciples to absolute surrender of ourselves and our substance to Him. Everything belongs to God, and like David you are to declare how majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation!
EXAMPLE: Consider the ad that appeared in the June 1998 issue of Outside magazine. Under the picture of three fishermen is the following text: "The waters are their church. The rocks are their pulpit. And they worship a 20-pound steelhead that moves in mysterious ways." While that expression of pseudo-religion is no doubt exaggerated, it does voice the feelings and values of a sizable segment of our population. For these devotees of the great outdoors, nature takes the place of God. They don't see the need for formal services in buildings dedicated to religious purposes. They claim that they don't need Bibles, hymns, and sermons because reverent thoughts occasionally fill their hearts as they respond to the world's beauty and wonder. It's one thing to acknowledge God's handiwork, as David did in stating just how Majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation. But it's quite another to be so taken up with created things, such as fish, flowers, clouds, and animals, that we aren't open to what God has said in His Word about Jesus, His Son. Nowhere in nature do we learn about the cross and our need of the Savior. Creation does not necessarily lead us to the cross. At some point we must understand like David did and realize everything belongs to God, and declare how majestic is the Lord when we consider His creation!
Conclusion:
We have learned from this eloquent poem of David’s two important truths: 1) How majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty! 2) How Majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation!
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 22, 2007 AM
At one point along the Saguenay River in southeastern Canada, the water flows through a chasm between two rugged rock formations. Their pinnacles tower over 1,600 feet into the sky. Early pioneers were so awestruck by these majestic crags that they named them Trinity and Eternity. These two great truths expressed by these words should create a sense of awe in the heart of every Christian. H. W. Robinson writes that “At the heart of the Christian faith is mystery, because at the heart of our faith is the eternal, triune God. We have the Father who loves us, the Savior who died for us, and the Spirit who helps us to be holy. This divine mystery gives us reason to bow down and worship our eternal God.”
The Psalmist would agree with H. W. and expressed his own awe of God. In fact there are some passages of Scripture that are so eloquent that they rival any modern day poet in style or grandeur. We discover that so inspired of God was David that all he could repeat was how majestic is the Lord! As we take a closer look at this wonderful piece of poetry we will also come away with a renewed awe and wonder of just how majestic is the Lord.
READ: Psalm 8
It has always amazed me but every time I have gotten into simple discussion with small children about God, they never question His existence. I have, however, often heard adults who think of themselves as “wise” use some of the most childish excuses why they do not want to follow Jesus Christ. David, a grown man, who later would be king over all of Israel and one of its most famous and successful rulers, would readily tell anyone, from his trusted generals to his most esteemed advisers…
I. How majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty! (vv. 1-2, 9)
1. God’s children have no problem in believing in God! David was constantly in awe of who God was. So much so that we find him beginning this psalm and ending it with the same declaration, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Notice whose “Lord” God was: “Our Lord,” David says. It is a personal declaration of God’s intimate care for him and his people. Addressing God by His personal name Yahweh (“Lord”), David identifies Him as “our Lord” (a?d?o?nay), the Sovereign Master and king even over himself, the King of Israel! David understood that even when he was victorious in battle, who was it that shouted God’s praise in the streets? The children! So with a kind of wonder David relates, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise!” Children innately know who brings blessing in life. The idea is that the Lord has ordained that the weakest shall confound the strong, even the enemies of God’s people, “to silence the foe and the avenger!” We later find that “when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things [Jesus] did and the children shouting in the temple area, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise”?’” (Matthew 21:15-16) David had no problem in relating just how majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty!
EXAMPLE: I have seen little children bring their unbelieving parents to childlike faith in Christ simply by their own love and devotion to the Lord. Helen Steiner Rice writes in her poem, “A Child's Faith,” this idea:
A Childlike Faith, by Helen Steiner Rice
“Jesus loves me, this I know
For the Bible tells me so.”
Little children ask no more,
For love is all they’re looking for,
And in a small child’s shining eyes
The Faith of all the ages lies.
And tiny hands and tousled heads
That kneel in prayer by little beds
Are closer to the dear Lord’s heart
And of His kingdom more a part
Than we who search, and never find
The answer to our questioning mind.
For Faith in things we cannot see
Requires a child’s simplicity
For, lost in life’s complexities,
We drift upon uncharted seas
And slowly Faith disintegrates
While wealth and power accumulate.
And the more man learns, the less he knows,
And the more involved his thinking grows
And, in his arrogance and pride,
No longer is man satisfied
To place his confidence and love
With childlike Faith in God above.
Oh, Father grant once more to men
A simple childlike Faith again.
And, with a small child’s trusting eyes
May all men come to realize
That Faith alone can save man’s soul
And lead him to a Higher Goal.
Like David, we should have no problem in relating just how majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty! It is a childlike faith of awe. Yet we can also look at the world around us and know just how marvelous God is. It has always made me wonder at just how spiritually blind people can be when they cannot look at creation and see the “handprint of God.” David would declare…
II. How Majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation! (vv. 3-8)
1. When we truly look at God’s handiwork, we stand in awe of Who he is! David could not believe what he saw when he looked up into the desert sky at night. Even with his army about him, David understood that he was simply insignificant compared to what was displayed before his minute being. He would declare, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?” How could an infinite Creator be concerned for an insignificant man? It was more than David could comprehend. David relates, “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings,” meaning that human beings were created as God’s own representatives on earth, over His Creation, but lower than God or His angels. In fact, David knows that God “made” mankind “ruler over the works of [God’s] hands!” He goes on to say that, “You put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.” The connotation is that humans are to be God’s good stewards of His creation! When God created humans, He made them to have “dominion” over all of the earth (Genesis 1:26). Dominion was not intended to be domination or exploitation. Jesus took this a step further and rejoiced over a person’s willingness to give their whole selves to Him. Jesus calls all disciples to absolute surrender of ourselves and our substance to Him. Everything belongs to God, and like David you are to declare how majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation!
EXAMPLE: Consider the ad that appeared in the June 1998 issue of Outside magazine. Under the picture of three fishermen is the following text: "The waters are their church. The rocks are their pulpit. And they worship a 20-pound steelhead that moves in mysterious ways." While that expression of pseudo-religion is no doubt exaggerated, it does voice the feelings and values of a sizable segment of our population. For these devotees of the great outdoors, nature takes the place of God. They don't see the need for formal services in buildings dedicated to religious purposes. They claim that they don't need Bibles, hymns, and sermons because reverent thoughts occasionally fill their hearts as they respond to the world's beauty and wonder. It's one thing to acknowledge God's handiwork, as David did in stating just how Majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation. But it's quite another to be so taken up with created things, such as fish, flowers, clouds, and animals, that we aren't open to what God has said in His Word about Jesus, His Son. Nowhere in nature do we learn about the cross and our need of the Savior. Creation does not necessarily lead us to the cross. At some point we must understand like David did and realize everything belongs to God, and declare how majestic is the Lord when we consider His creation!
Conclusion:
We have learned from this eloquent poem of David’s two important truths: 1) How majestic is the Lord when you consider His majesty! 2) How Majestic is the Lord when you consider His creation!
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