Daily Dose of the Word of God - Psalm 8

Justin Paul-Lawrence, Executive Director

Transcript

JPL  0:06  

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God.  It’s Friday, the eighth of May, but Sunday is coming! I’m Justin Paul Lawrence.  Each Friday we listen to the voice of the Psalms, which teach us to pray and point us to Jesus. Today’s passage is Psalm 8.

 
JPL  0:23  

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 honor. 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!

JPL  1:20  

I feel like I've read Psalm 8 a lot in my life. Or at least heard it. There was definitely a song on Christian radio when I was growing up that had the first line about majestic is your name? Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name and all the Earth. As a kid I loved the word majestic. Majestic, like purple mountains, majesty, above the fruited plain. This majestic God seemed like someone out there on those purple mountains, just beyond holding it all together. Maybe in Denver? Where you see just a wall of peaks after 1000 miles of prairie?  But just as much as I've loved the majestic and the glory in psalm 8,  I've always been struck by being a little lower than the angels.  I always felt a little gypped at being a little lower than the angels.  Why? It was like the Angels were my older brother and he got to do cool stuff with God and I was down here a little lower than him. Which is funny because I don't even have an older brother. What is mankind that you were mindful of them human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the Angels. But it's the next part that really hit home as I read it this week. I think that the original hearers of the Psalms the ancient Near East certainly didn’t have the same older brother response that I had.  For them the Angels were really really high. They were messengers of God. They were ones who showed up to Abraham or to Moses. They were the ones in the council of Yahweh. Being a little lower than them is quite an honor. But the psalm goes beyond that too. It's not just that we're a little lower than the Angels -  it is that we are crowned by God with glory and honor! And not only that, God made us rulers, overseers, over the works of his hands and put everything under our feet. And these are amazing things that are under our feet: flocks and herds, animals of the wild, birds of the sky, fish of the sea. All that swim in the paths to the Sea. This is an ongoing task we have. To have dominion over the earth. We do this in so many ways: We observe the birds in our bird bath in the backyard. We care for the pets in our lives but also for the animals in the world through policies that create wildlife refuges. We even care for the fish of the lakes that the Timothy Christian School bass fishing team catches:  After all, it's catch and release. In our rule under God’s rule there is dominion and care.  In a very small way we are imitating what God does for us. That's part of our being a little lower than the Angels. That is an indescribable gift and the crowning Glory of God taking his power taking his glory and sharing it with us. Not because he had to, but  because he loves us and wants us to do good works with what he's given us. So maybe we have a little bit of majesty as well. Maybe you do too. This week, remember that the majestic god of the purple mountains cares for you. And use that knowledge well to be an image-bearing ruler in your world.

JPL  4:20  

Let's pray. Lord, your name is majestic. We know that we are not always majestic or glory filled in our actions and our words. Help us to reflect our role in your kingdom, to know you well through your son and fulfill our calling to help bring about your reign and rule. Amen.