Humanity—God’s Majesty Manifested: Psalm 8

When you look at Psalm 8 carefully you must come away with several conclusions.

• The majesty of God is great beyond words.
• The majesty of God is worthy of our fervent worship and obedience.

How is that majesty seen?

• The majesty of God is manifest in the “glory” of His Creation. Most importantly, in the creation of MAN.

What truth should we come away with? You cannot worship and glorify God rightly while treating Man, His Creation, with contempt. Note how this is developed in the passage.

God’s Majesty Declared (1)

Though the majority of words in this Psalm relate to man, the main Person this Psalm is about is God. Note this in the main truth declared at the beginning and ending of this Psalm.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
He is the LORD. His name points to Himself as the Self-Existent One, the Self-Sufficient One, and the Only True & Free Being. His name is “Excellent”. He is worthy of praise and glory. It is excellent “In all the earth.” Remember, that this statement is found at the beginning and ending of this Psalm. This is the most important truth.

God’s Majesty Manifested (3-8)

God’s majesty is manifested by the heavens. David was AWED by what He saw when he looked up at the stars, moon, and sun. We have the ability to see so much more than what David could see. So vast is the creation it can only be measured by the time and distance light travels. The pictures we see today are breathtaking.

But the focus of God’s majesty manifested is on Man. David realized how insignificant we are. If he could only have seen the Hubble pictures! David asks an obvious question, “When I look at this vast and great creation, what is man?” “Why are you mindful of him?” “Why have you visited him?” “Why have you exalted him with dominion over the earth?” He was saying, “When I look at the greatness of your creation, why would you bother with man at all?”

David was awed by the glory God gave to man. He observed that man was made “a little lower than the angels” in the creative order. Angels appear to have greater ability and power than humans. Yet, God had “visited” man. From the beginning, he was made in God’s image and was set as ruler over His creation (Gen 1:26). God visited man in the Garden in fellowship. When man sinned God provided the way of redemption.

What is the right perspective of man? We should be humbled by God’s love to us because we are really insignificant creatures in the vastness of His Creation. But we should show respect & dignity to man, because man is the manifestation of God’s supreme creation.

Application: As we noted at the beginning, you cannot worship and glorify God rightly while treating Man, His Creation, with contempt. As we think of this in terms of the Pro-Life message:

• You cannot starve the aged or infirm human and glorify the majesty of God.
• You cannot purposely terminate the life of One created in God’s image and glorify the majesty of God.
• You cannot dismember an unborn human being and glorify the majesty of God.
• You cannot treat human pregnancy like some kind of disease and glorify the majesty of God.

As we close we draw your attention to verse 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.” What an amazing statement. God’s enemies are silenced by means of “babes & sucklings”. The coos and cries of babies is what God uses. Jesus quoted this in Matthew 21:26 when He said the “praise” of babies is the perfect praise of God. When you look at a tiny baby, how can you not help think of the miracle of Creation and the Awesome Glory of God? Even today ultrasound is another way God is praised. “Oh LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.

Devotional submitted by:
Pastor Dan Stertz, Hudson, WI
BFLW Board Member