July 22, 2019 -- Psalm 8 -- The Glory of God

O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b]
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 English Standard Version

The measure of man is mere millimeters compared to the greatness of the universe;

the splendour of the universe is a mere millimeter compared to the glory of God.

Richard T. Vander Vaart

One does not go the Banff National Park nestled in the mountains and gaze at Lake Louise and walk the Parker Ridge Trail in order to gain a sense of how great man is! If anything, at Banff one will get a marvelous sense of wonder, showing how small man really is. Or, like David, the author of this psalm, one does not gaze up at the heavens and think: I am great. Instead, we are reminded of how very, very small man is.

The great, breath-taking glory of God is revealed in creation. And then, greater still, when one considers the magnificence of Jesus. He, Who is the radiance of the Father’s glory, reveals even greater depths and heights of glory when He takes on the sin of mankind, and opens the way for believers to be called sons and daughters of the Most High God.

Today, I can think of no better prayer than repeating Psalm 8.

Shalom