Read Psalm 8:
A Psalm of David.
1 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 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!
Understand Psalm 8:
Psalm 8 promises help when we feel worthless because of personal failure, the criticisms of others, feelings of inadequacy, or falling short of our own expectations. The psalm begins and ends with the declaration of worship: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” This figure of speech, called inclusio, means that everything within the psalm testifies to the majesty of God. Psalm 8: God is great![1]
I. God’s Grandeur Keeps You Small (vv. 1-4)
David proclaims the personal name of God, “O Yahweh, our lord and master” (v. 1). He exults in God’s awe-inspiring power as the Creator of all the earth and he proclaims God’s glory as higher than the heavens. Nothing and no one on the earth can adequately give praise to God, yet man is still called to make the effort (e.g., 1 Kgs 8:27). We are granted the privilege of worshiping the God of the heavens and the earth and everywhere in between.[2]
God’s enemies are proud and self-assertive (Ps 8:2), yet the Lord is praised from the mouth of babes and magnified through the babbling of toddlers. The tiniest child who speaks the name of Yahweh has more wisdom on her lips than the most learned philosophers, for “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27b) and the foolish to shut the mouths of the wise (v. 27a).
Meditating on God’s grandeur reminds us of our smallness. As David marvels, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Ps 8:3). The entire nighttime universe is ablaze with glory, yet God created the heavens by the word of his mouth and the work of his fingers (Gen 1:3, 14-15). If the immensity of the universe gives us such a feeling of smallness, then how much more so the glory and the grandeur of God? Consider also the constancy of the sun and the moon which God has set in motion since creation (vv. 16-19; Ps 19:4-6). Every day the sun rises and every night the moon takes its place—a cycle which has been true every single day of your life and for generations long after you’re dead (Eccl 1:4).
We are microscopically small compared to the infinite, eternal God who made us,[3] yet still we are of great significance as those created in his image (Gen 1:26-27). Though simply specks of dust, we are God’s specks and an integral part of his plan. In fact, God’s Son himself was clothed in dust: “[He] made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7). So the most astounding fact is not that we are made of the same stuff as the stars, but that God chose to be made of the same stuff as us. When David writes breathlessly, “What is man?” he is really exclaiming, “What a God! How amazing it is that the Almighty God would be mindful of us—that he thinks about us—that he cares for us—that he seeks us when we are lost!” The infinite God has chosen to dwell with finite man.
In addition, while creation was merely the work of God’s fingers, salvation was said to be the work of his arm (Isa 52:10; see 53:1; 59:16; Ps 77:15). We are humbled by our smallness as we stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon (Rom 1:20). Then as we read God’s Word, we are overwhelmed by wave after wave of gospel truth: “I’m justified and adopted. I’m freed from sin and empowered to righteous living. I’ve been promised a glorious inheritance!” In God’s Word, we find the words of life. In the gospel, we find salvation.
There may be moments in life when we feel worthless, yet the key is not to try harder or work longer to achieve a sense of human worth. The way of the cross is to go down before going up—to be humbled before we are exalted (Jas 4:10). Psalm 8 reminds us that we are nothing. We are far beneath the heavens and less numerous than the stars. We are not constant like the sun or the moon. We are tiny in comparison to God. God’s grandeur keeps us small (vv. 1-4), yet God’s grace reveals our significance (vv. 5-9).
II. God’s Grace Reveals Your Significance (vv. 5-9)
The Christian view of man is much different than the world’s. We are royal ambassadors of the Almighty God and guests of honor at his victory banquet (v. 5).[4] Man receives a portion of God’s glory as his divinely appointed representatives to care for the rest of creation (vv. 6-8; Gen 1:28). Yet one-by-one, beginning with Adam, man seeks to usurp God’s authority. We all speak some form of prideful boast as we try to take God’s place (e.g., Dan 4:30). We are glory thieves who do not remember our role in God’s good world and fail to rule in the ways of our Creator. We behave worse than the beasts and end up doing what animals could never dream of.
So God sent a Savior—his very own Son (see Heb 2:6-9). When the first Adam failed, God sent Another (see 2 Cor 3:18; Col 3:10). When man did not rule well, God sent a better Ruler. The writer of Hebrews says that the man Christ Jesus became “for a little while lower than the angels.” He suffered for our sins and died upon a cross. Then God crowned him with glory and honor and put all things under his subjection (see Eph 1:22; 1 Cor 15:27). Psalm 8 is then ultimately fulfilled in Christ who will one day bring many sons and daughters to share in his heavenly glory.
In his earthly ministry, Jesus quoted Psalm 8 to refer to himself as the Son of God and the Son of Man. As he entered Jerusalem triumphantly on what we call Palm Sunday, the people began to praise him, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Yet the religious leaders were indignant: “How could any man accept the praises of God?” So “they said to [Jesus], ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’” (Matt 21:15-16a). And Jesus replied from Psalm 8:2, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (Matt 21:16b). This outraged the religious leaders still more, for Jesus accepted the peoples’ praise and validated their worship. As the “Son of David,” he claimed to be the promised Messiah sent by God himself. Not only that, but he also called the scribes and Pharisees the enemies of God because they rejected his claim to be the Son of God. This made them so angry that they plotted to put him to death.
David then concludes Psalm 8 the same way he began: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (v. 9). God’s glory in all the earth makes us feel small and his glory in salvation makes us feel smaller. We wonder at God’s sovereign plan to grant us the privilege of ruling the world under him. We are shown by Christ how to do the work we had failed to do and we are redeemed in Christ so that we can one day share in his glory. How amazing that the Almighty God would grant us such wonderful blessings. So as you go through this coming week, meditate on these marvelous truths: “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”[5]
Apply Psalm 8:
- How are you sometimes tempted to think of yourself as more important than you are? For example, do you measure your personal worth based on power, authority, position, or wealth? Do you ever despair that you are worthless in the eyes of the world?
- Take a closer look at God’s creation (i.e., the stars at night, the constancy of the moon, the beauty of nature, the wonder of a newborn child). As you consider the all-powerful, all-knowing God, what effect does this have on your feelings of being overlooked?
- Our sun is a relatively tiny star amidst billions of stars and our galaxy is a relatively tiny galaxy amidst billions of galaxies. If the entire Milky Way were shrunk to the size of North America, then our solar system could fit inside a coffee cup. Consider that the next time you visit your favorite coffee shop.[6]
- Are your habits and choices driven by a desire to earn love and respect from others, or from God? How does Psalm 8 remind you of your smallness before revealing your significance?
- Read Hebrews 2, Matthew 21, and Ephesians 1:22 to see how Jesus fulfills Psalm 8. How does Christ’s accomplishment increase your worth in the eyes of God? What is your identity in Christ according to the gospel?
Pray Psalm 8:
- Lord, fill my mouth with your praises (vv. 1, 9).
- How beautiful and marvelous is your creation (v. 3).
- Thank you, Lord, for making me and caring for me (v. 4).
- Thank you for sending Christ as the “second Adam” (vv. 5-6).
- Teach me to serve you with the faith of a child (vv. 2, 6-8).
Counsel Psalm 8:
Your counselees will often feel a sense of worthlessness or self-loathing because of lies they’ve told themselves or that they’ve heard from others. Psalm 8 helps them to fit their story within the story of God. It reminds them that they are small compared to God, but made great because of his gracious work on their behalf.
[1] The superscript identifies this as a worship hymn: “A Psalm of David.” David was the covenant king of Israel who shared in relationship with Yahweh and this psalm was inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. Yet this was not simply a song for David’s ears alone, but written instructions “to the choirmaster” who led Israel in worship. This psalm was written for corporate praise as indicated by the plural pronouns: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” It was meant to be sung in chorus and became associated in later Christianity with Ascension Day (Holy Thursday) to celebrate Christ’s ascension into heaven. This hymn of praise highlights both the greatness of God and man’s role in God’s universe. These two truths will help “worthless” people find worth in God.
[2] This merism is stated twice in Psalm 8: “earth (v. 1) . . . heavens (v. 1) . . . . heavens (v. 3) . . . heavens (v. 8) . . . earth (v. 9).”
[3] The phrase “son of man” points to man’s fragile mortality (see Num 23:19; Job 25:6; 35:8) as one born of man who will die like every other man. Yet this phrase of fragility later came to speak of the Messiah (see Dan 7:13) and was the title Jesus gave to himself: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus emphasized his mortality as he willingly suffered and died for the sins of man.
[4] The guest of honor at a royal banquet wore a wreath-like crown (ʿaṭarah) decorated with flowers.
[5] “In awe of one’s immense smallness in this grandiose spectacle, the gaze turns on the self as one becomes aware that the human, small and insignificant, a breath and a shadow, is a marvel of the universe. . . . The privilege stems from God’s creative initiative and rests on incomprehensible grace. As they discover and praise God they recognize their true dignity, a discovery which confounds God’s enemies” (Konrad Schaefer, Psalms, Berit Olam, 23-24.).
[6] Consider the vast immensity of God’s universe: “We may have left our footprints on the moon, but the further we probe through radio telescope and orbiting satellite, the more awesome becomes the immensity of space and the whirling galaxies” (Robert Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 38).
