Read: Psalm 8
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!
Psalm 8 is often credited as being the first true praise hymn in the book of Psalms because it begins and ends with the same line: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” When reading through a Psalm like this, I love to take a moment to make note of repeated words and phrases. At first glance, the phrase “You have” stands out to me.
“You have set your glory”
“You have established strength”
“You have made him a little lower”
“You have given him dominion”
By observing what is there, I also observe what is not there, which is the reference to the author himself. The only time the author refers to himself is in verse 3 where he says “When I look.” This is different from many Psalms where the author inserts his thoughts, feelings, emotions, questions, and praises and signifies them with words such as I, my, me, or mine.
To draw this comparison, think back to this past Sunday when Carson preached through Psalm 6. Within the ESV version of Psalm 6, the word “I” is used four times, the word “me” is used six times, and the word “my” is used twelve times. That is a total of twenty-two times within ten verses that the author refers to himself. Yet, in Psalm 8 the author only references himself once! This hymn has a clear focus, and the reflections and pleas of the author is not it.
When walking through this Psalm, we cannot escape the fact that we are not the focus, but we are the ones in awe. For when we look at what the Lord has done, we can confess that we are ones that are gifted with being able to enjoy the work of His hands. This is why verses 3 and 4 exist; the only response David can voice when thinking about the works of the Lord is this question: “What is man that you are mindful of him?”
The Lord has set, established, made, and given. And what do we do? We “look.” We are not the ones setting and establishing; we are the ones gazing at the “work of His fingers.” We look up at the “moon and stars,” knowing we did nothing to make them exist. The only reason we have any dominion is because the Lord has given it.
Yet, even here we read Psalm 8 in light of the gospel and the words of Hebrews 2:9, where the author points to the fact that the man being referred to here is none other than Christ Himself: “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Even in the humbling of Christ to come and walk this earth, we benefit. We stand once again in awe of the works of the Lord who has given us salvation through His Son.
There are times in the book of Psalms that the layout is wonderfully clear, and I feel that happens here. The tone of Psalm 7 is one of desperation and, you might even say, despair. Within the words of Psalm 7, there are many petitions regarding the needs, desires, and wants of the author, but then there is a shift in the last verse of Psalm 7. “I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.” As you continue reading the chapters in order, the next verse is Psalm 8:1, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
This shifts the focus from desperation and honest prayer to turning and looking upon the majesty of the Lord. We know this same need: the need to turn from despair to allow our eyes, hearts, and minds to gaze at the Lord. For in gazing upon the works of the Lord, we will find strength and hope for the days that lie ahead of us.
If you find yourself in the honest place of hard prayers and desperate needs, take assurance that you are not alone. Those that sit around you on Sunday morning know those times. The authors of the Psalms know these feelings, and through their prayers we learn our own need to observe and look to the Lord. I pray that as you face day to day troubles, joys, and sorrows this week, you can look to the works of the Lord and find a place of praise and adoration for the things the Lord has done and is still doing out of his love for His children.
