May 5, 2021
Praying Friends,
Thank you for your desire and commitment to pray each Wednesday for our prodigals and for revival. When you pray, you honor God by ascribing to Him the greatness He already possesses!
The prayer of David in Psalm 8 is a song of praise that exalts our LORD and gives Him the honor He deserves. It is the psalm of the upward look. True praise always has a God-centered focus.
For David, it was not just the tilting of his head and the raising of his eyes heavenward, but it was the attitude of his heart. As he looked up, he saw three things: the greatness of God’s glory, the greatness of God’s grace, and the greatness of God’s purposes.
Psalm 8:
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!
The beauty of this psalm is enclosed with the statement, “LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth” (Ps. 8:1,9). There is no debate or question in his mind; the Lord’s name is excellent, glorious, and worthy of praise throughout the earth.
Everything He has created on the planet provides a glimpse into some aspect of His magnificent name. All things - from the majestic mountains to the microscopic organisms - reveal the wonders of who He is!
Then the psalmist does something that is a good practice — he looks up! He looks to the heavens. He gazes toward the sky, which displays the glory of God.
In Psalm 19, he looks up and praises God for the sun. Here in Psalm 8, he looks up and beholds the moon and the stars. Whether it is day or night, the glory of God is always before the uplifted eye.
David Jeremiah said, “God created the heavens and the earth to reveal His glory. Don’t allow creation to eclipse and steal the worship God desires and deserves.” We see the beauty, the symmetry, and the enormity of it all, and these direct our hearts to worship the Maker, for they communicate His glory.
The psalmist not only wants us to look up and see God’s greatness, but He also wants us to look up and consider God’s grace. “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?” (Ps. 8:3-4).
Was David thinking of his sinful nature? Or was he feeling overwhelmed with the reality of being an image-bearer of the great God? Either way, his heart was moved to worship at the thought that God in His glory is not only mindful of (remembers) us, but he cares for (seeks/visits) us.
Louie Giglio talked about God’s greatness at Passion Conference 2012. On his screen, he had a picture of the Whirlpool Galaxy, which is 31 million light-years away and contains approximately 300 billion stars.
He shared how the Hubble Telescope took pictures of this Galaxy and found a black hole. Inside this black hole is an image that looks like a cross. What Louie was highlighting was the imprint of God on His creation.
As ugly and cruel as the cross is as a means of execution, it is the emblem of God’s grace and the ultimate demonstration of His love to us. The question that David asked in verse four, reflects the absolute bafflement of his mind.
Why would a God so big be mindful of someone so small? There are many answers, but one that stands out is that He wants us to glory in His love.
Paul stated, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). The cross became the central, all-encompassing focus of Paul’s life. All the other glories faded beside it because all of our blessings can be sourced back to what happened there.
This practice of looking up also caused David to behold the purposes of God for His creators. “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” (Ps. 8:5-6). This dominion that was lost due to the fall has been gained in Christ. He has become the head of a new creation and a new family (Hebrews 2).
The Hebrew writer says, “It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking” (Heb. 2:5). God’s purposes are not limited to the world that now is, but also to the world that is to come. The responsibility of caring for it, subduing it, and ruling over it, is the purpose of God for us and that can only be fully fulfilled in Christ.
Today, what you and I are doing here and now, should manifest the glory of God. Whatever the specific work God has placed in your hands to do should reflect the values of God’s character and His kingdom. There is coming a day when the purposes of God will climax in the glorious reign of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whatever your present circumstance may be, God says, “LOOK UP!”
Love in Christ,
Bryan and Rachel
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