Brother Lawrence once said, “We should devote ourselves to becoming in this life the most perfect worshippers of God we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.”
And if this our desire then Psalm 8 will help us in this endeavour as David begins and ends his poem with words of praise:
1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
… 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
This psalm is pure praise, without any requests or complaints. Quite a change from the previous psalms!
So, I wonder, what was the catalyst for David’s adoration and words of praise and worship to his Lord? We don’t really know, but possibly as a young man he was looking up at the sky on a quiet, clear night out in the fields while minding his sheep, and as he does he speaks to God and says,
“You have set your glory in the heavens.
And later expresses his appreciation for
… your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place…”
Recently my wife and I were privileged to be driving and camping along the isolated areas near the coast of southern Australia near the Great Australian Bight. Due to the lack of any other lights around us to hinder the view, at night the sky was filled with an almost overwhelming number of stars. It is times like these, as we consider the cosmos, that our hearts are filled with wonder and praise for our great and powerful and majestic Creator God. And such was David’s experience as expressed in this psalm.
But, as David’s introductory words suggest, our God is not only the Lord of “the heavens” but of “all the earth” as well. In fact he mentions other aspects of God’s creation as a cause for our adoration and worship. He speaks of,
“…human beings… 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.”
Kidner suggests that this psalm “is an unsurpassed example of what a hymn [of praise] should be, celebrating as it does the glory and grace of God, rehearsing who He is and what He has done, and relating us and our world to Him; all with a masterly economy of words and in a spirit of mingled joy and awe. It brings to light the unexpectedness of God’s ways [which we will consider next time]…but it begins and ends with God Himself, and its overriding theme is ‘How excellent is your name!’” (see references # 29)
And as Francis Chan says:
“This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious.” (Quoted from Crazy Love in The Heavens Proclaim His Glory – see references # 35)
Glorious Father, indeed, how excellent, how majestic, how great and powerful is your name in the heavens and in the earth. Help us to pause more often in life and reflect on this truth and worship you as we consider the wonder of your creation all around us. Help us to desire to be the most perfect worshippers of You we can possibly be. “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth” Amen.
Tehilim (Psalms) - "songs of praise". 