Lessons from the Psalms: The Majesty of the LORD and the Dignity of Man

“O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, You who set Your glory above the heavens!

Out of the mouths of babes and infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! -Psalm 8:1-9 (NKJV).

Read Psalm 8 until its majestic language and infinite truths permeate your thinking. As a young Christian, my Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Mert Shuler Collins, led her junior Sunday School class to memorize Psalm 8. Since those early days as a Christian, Psalm 8, and likewise Psalm 23, have been favorite psalms to bring to mind, to repeat and to meditate upon.

What lessons can we learn from this Psalm? David, the author of this Psalm, stood amazed that the great God of Creation would pay attention to frail man. That God in His majesty and glory would condescend to consider man is proof of man’s dignity above all other created beings, and that we are made in the image of God. Man can experience the majesty and power of God and bow in worship to Him. We can have fellowship with God and learn from Him what we are to do in this great universe God created.

In studying Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on Psalm 8, I was intrigued at his alliterative outline of the Psalm that helped me to put David’s poem into concise and memorable terms:

1. God Created Us (vv. 1-2, 5a). God the transcendent One is known throughout the earth.
2. God Cares for Us (vv. 3-4). He made the world and all in it for our enjoyment.
3. God Crowns Us (vv. 5-8) God has dominion over us; we have dominion over His creation.

Dr. Wiersbe writes: “To summarize: God the Father created us to be kings, but the disobedience of our first parents robbed us of our crowns. God the Son came to earth and redeemed us to be kings (Revelation 1:5-6), and today the Holy Spirit of God can empower us to ‘reign in life by one, Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:17). When you crown Jesus Christ Lord of all, you are a sovereign and not a slave, a victor and not a victim.” (The Wiersbe Bible Commentar Old Testament. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2007, p. 883).

Prayer: We acclaim with David: “O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!” The New International Version uses the word ‘majestic’ where the King James uses ‘excellent.’ In the words and music of Michael W. Smith, we lift our voices in a song of praise: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. O Lord, we praise Your name. O Lord, we magnify Your name: Prince of Peace, mighty God; O Lord God Almighty!” Amen! -Ethelene Dyer Jones 01.10.2016

In Expectation of a Visit from God

“What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?”

-Psalm 8:4 (NKJV)

Christmas is coming, and no doubt many of us are expecting company. It has long been a practice (especially among Southern families) to welcome home at Christmastime those who have moved away. And if a Grandfather or Grandmother lives near or with one of her family members who has stayed “near the old homeplace,” Christmas is certain to be a time when those away will return home to visit parents and also visit the relatives who live in the home community. Such was the visitation at Christmas and other times from those relatives living away. 

 

Early in the creation period, God walked and talked with Adam. But after Eve was tempted by Satan, she also invited Adam to partake of the fruit of the forbidden tree,. They heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and tried to hide themselves from God, feeling guilty to be in His holy presence. That visit from God was not welcomed by the couple because they felt guilty before God for the sin they had committed. It was their choice to separate themselves from the presence of God and from communication with Him. God’s visits were not welcomed by them under the circumstances.

Man then became in great need of visitation from Holy God. Many were the efforts from Adam to Christ to restore the lost fellowship, but any measures taken by the leaders of God to bring the people back into communion with God were short-lived. People sinned again and again and knew the biting separation from a holy and righteous God. Jeremiah wrote: “ ‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:23-24).

In the fullness of time the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, came to earth. To paraphrase Psalm 8:4, the Father was sending His Son because He was ‘mindful of man” and wanted ‘to visit him.” John records God’s visitation with mankind in this way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, NKJV). Christmas if the time when we celebrate the visitation of God to mankind. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us!” Christmas is Immanuel, “God with us.” God was mindful of man, and came to visit us. We know the marvelous story, told by the angels, repeated by disciples from that first Advent to the present and even into the future. Someone has already come, and His name is Jesus—because God was ‘mindful of man’ and wanted ‘to visit him.’ Praise be to God!

-Ethelene Dyer Jones 12.13.2015