Psalm 8:1 - Our Amazing and Incredible God.
Psalm 8:1 (NIV) O LORD, our Lord, how
majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set
your glory above the heavens.
INTRODUCTION
Delighting in God
Key to understanding the psalmist's words
of praise is knowing that God's name reflects
His character. For instance, the name El Shaddai
means "All-sufficient or Almighty One." El Elyon
means "the Most High God" and refers to God's
supremacy and sovereignty. The names of God reveal who
He is.
Here the psalmist was truly delighting in
who God is and what He is like. Look at the
picture of God's amazing creation that the psalmist
painted - "When I consider Your heavens, the work of
Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You
have ordained" - and hear how he was humbled and
awed by what he saw: "What is man that You are
mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit
him?" (vv. 3-4).
Within the majestic expanse of the
universe, we are insignificant specks. Yet our
infinite God sees us, knows us intimately, and loves
us ceaselessly. Such divine consideration is
truly beyond our comprehension.
O Lord, our Lord, Your love for me is
truly amazing! Teach me to delight in You. [Being
Still With God Every Day by Henry Blackaby]
COMMENTARY PEARL
Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise
Lost in the silent solitude of recent
days, I have been impressed anew with the vast
handiwork of our incomprehensible God.
O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name
fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the
heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell
of your strength, silencing your enemies and
all who oppose you. When I look into the night
sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon
and the stars you set in place - what are mere
mortals that you should think about them, human
beings that you should care for them? Yet you made
them only a little lower than God and crowned
them with glory and honor. Psalm 8:1"5
Nothing proves more freeing to us as
believers than fully embracing the sovereignty of God.
He rules and oversees our lives with wonderful
goodness and perfect faithfulness. I often wonder why
we so easily and frequently forget that truth -
why we so readily abandon the safety of His
sovereign care in order to trust in ourselves. He
would much rather we go with this thought:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do
not depend on your own understanding. Seek his
will in all you do, and he will show you which
path to take. Proverbs 3:5"6
Now doesn't that make so much more sense?
Discipline yourself to think on these
things! Refocus your mind from the horizontal to the
vertical. Rise above the nonsense of the human
viewpoint and tedious worries about non-eternal
issues. Get on with thoughts that really matter.
It's time we got reacquainted with our
Maker. Allow yourself to get lost in wonder, love,
and praise. [Chuck Swindoll www.insight.org.]
COMMENTARY
An "Empty" Spot in the Night Sky
After more than 15 years of dreaming,
designing, and planning, the Hubble Space Telescope was
launched into space on April 24, 1990, aboard the
space shuffle Discovery. With a relatively small
mirror of almost 95 inches (several mountaintop
observatories have telescopes with mirrors of 400 or more
inches), Hubble's great advantage is in being outside
of earth's atmosphere, thus giving the
telescope clear and stable picture taking ability.
Hubble travels at about five miles per second,
which gets it around the earth in just a little
more than an hour and a half. During each orbit
scientists have about 45 minutes while Hubble is in the
shadow of the earth. The dark night sky is the best
time for collecting light from the astronomical
features that they want to investigate.
After studying many thousands of images
of beautiful galaxies and supernovas, some
scientists decided to pick a relatively empty part of
the sky to look at. They chose a tiny dark spot
in the night sky in the constellation Fornax.
The tiny spot is so small that it is like
looking through an eight foot soda straw. Or another
way to imagine it is staring at a dime 75 feet
away. Then, during the course of 400 orbits, they
programmed the Hubble cameras to collect light coming
from the "empty" spot. The camera took 800 shots
between September 24, 2003, and January 16, 2004,
giving a total exposure time of 11.3 days. What
that long time exposure shows takes my breath
away. For even with our feeble instrument, that
picture reveals nearly 10,000 galaxies that we
didn't know existed. Many of the galaxies are
interacting with each other. Some of them are distorted
from galactic collisions. Others appear normal
and unaffected by each other, majestic spirals
with hundreds of billions of stars. How little we
really know about what is out there!
I can't wait to travel to some of these
distant galaxies and visit other worlds where the
inhabitants have been living unaffected by the disease,
death, dishonesty, and deceitfulness of sin. Won't
it be interesting to ask them about their life
and interactions with the Creator-God? [God of
Wonders by David Steen]
When You Look Up, Things Will Look Up
Weve all heard the phrase Things
are looking up!
But what does it mean?
It means the situation is improving. Your
problems are decreasing, and your opportunities are
increasing.
I want you to remember an important
truth: Things will start to look up for you when
you start looking up.
In other words, your circumstances will
improve when you stop looking at them and start
looking at God.
Over and over in the Bible, we see this
phrase: Lift up your eyes. Its another way
to say, Look up. Get your eyes off yourself
and onto God.
God said it to Moses. He said it Abraham.
Jesus said it to his followers.
Theres an old rhyme that says, Two
men looked out from prison bars. One saw mud,
the other saw stars. In other words, one
inmate looked down in despair, but the other one
looked up in hope.
You have that same choice, and I hope
that you choose to see the stars. God created
every one of them. And those stars are the exact
same ones that were shining on the night of
Jesus birth 2,000 years ago - and King David saw
the same stars 1,000 years before that, when he
wrote these words:
When I look at the night sky and see
the work of your fingers - the moon and the
stars you set in place - what are mere mortals
that you should think about them, human beings
that you should care for them? O Lord, our
Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
(Psalm 8:3-4, 9 NLT).
When we look up and see how big God is,
it shrinks the size of our problems. Our
problems never seem as big or as overwhelming when
compared to the greatness of God. [Daily Devotional
by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/ re vss. 3, 4, 9]
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
I made you a little lower than the
heavenly beings and crowned you with glory and honor.
You were made for greatness, beloved. Never
doubt your personal significance, for I created
you in My own image - in My likeness. I formed
you with a magnificent brain that can
communicate with Me, think rationally, create wonderful
things, and much more. I gave you dominion over the
fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every
living thing that moves on the earth. Of everything
I created, only mankind is made in My
likeness. This is a glorious privilege and
responsibility; it makes every moment of your life
meaningful.
One of your chief purposes in life is to
glorify Me. I crowned you with glory so that you can
reflect My Glory: lighting up this dark world and
helping others come to know Me. I also want you to
enjoy Me. I created you with unlimited capacity
for pleasure in knowing Me. This Joy you find in
Me here and now is a tiny foretaste of the
eternal delights awaiting you in heaven. (Psa. 8:5;
Gen. 1:27, 28; 2Co. 3:18) [Jesus Always by Sarah
Young]
Joy is a choice. You may not have much
control over your circumstances, but you can still
choose to be joyful. I created you a little lower
than the heavenly beings, and I gave you an
amazing mind. Your ability to think things through
and make decisions derives from your elevated
position in My kingdom. Your thoughts are extremely
important because emotions and behavior flow out of
them. So endeavor to make good thought-choices.
Whenever you are feeling joyless, you
need to pause and remember: I am with you. I am
watching over you continuously. I love you with
perfect, unfailing Love. I have given you My Spirit,
and this Holy Helper within you has infinite
Power. He can help you line up your thinking with
the absolute truths of Scripture. My continual
Presence is a biblical promise, so seek to see Me in
the midst of your circumstances. At first you
may perceive only your problems. But keep on
looking till you can discern the Light of My
Presence shining upon your difficulties, reflecting
sparkles of Joy back to you. (Psa. 8:5; Gen. 28:15;
Psa. 107:8; Rom. 8:9) [Jesus Always by Sarah
Young]
Some of my favorite characteristics of our
majestic God that give such tremendous peace and
comfort:
Eternal: no beginning or end.
Supreme: superior over all.
Sovereign: control over all.
Omnipotent: all powerful.
Omniscient: all knowing.
Omnipresent: everywhere present.
Omnibenevolent: supremely good.
Immutable: does not change.
Holy: without sin or blemish of any kind.
True: does not lie.
Just: totally fair.
Loving: selfless, sacrificial,
unconditional love.
Merciful: compassionate and forgiving.
Faithful: loyal and trustworthy in all
things.
An amazing and incredible God.
SELECTED CROSS REFERENCES
Psalm 113:4 (NKJV) The LORD is high above
all nations, His glory above the heavens.
Psalm 148:13 (NKJV) Let them praise the name
of the LORD, For His name alone is exalted; His
glory is above the earth and heaven.
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS TOPIC
Psalm 19:1, 2 - The Heavens Declare the
Glory of God.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2017/20170411-1019.html
Romans 1:18-20 - The Revelation of God in
Creation.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2015/20150719-1023.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Most Important Decision in Life:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0
A Man without Equal by Bill Bright:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo
Seeking God Made Real:
http://vimeo.com/31489782
Prayer Made Real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE
Importance of Choice:
http://creationhealth.com/CREATION-Health/Choice [click on video]
Medical Seminar on Healthful Living by David
DeRose, MD, MPH:
https://www.smartlifestyletv.com/lifestart
LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies:
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
Amazing Facts Bible Studies:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx
Hope Awakens Bible Study Guides:
https://www.hopeawakens.study/lesson-header;id=2
Glow Tract Video Bible Studies:
http://www.bibleresearch.info/
LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS
Revelation Now by Pastor Doug Batchelor
(recent): https://www.revelationnow.com/
Unlocking Bible Prophecies by Cami Oetman of
Adventist World Radio (recent):
https://bible.awr.org/en/the-signs/
Hope Awakens by John Bradshaw of IIW:
https://itiswritten.tv/programs/hope-awakens
Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657
