Psalm 8

The majesty of the Lord (vs. 1-9)—The excellent, awesomeness, and majesty of God are the key themes of this psalm: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens” (v. 1). From the very beginning of our existence as humans, we show forth the praise of the Almighty (v. 2). David is awed by this God: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (vs. 3-4). Man is truly a small, very small, and seemingly insignificant part of this virtually endless universe. The earth is a tiny, obscure planet, revolving around a mid-sized sun, in an out-of-the-way location in a galaxy of no mean dimension, indeed, one of billions of such galaxies in the universe. And here’s man—so frail, so weak, with such a short life span. There exists a God with the wisdom to create such an intricate and expansive universe, yet Who is mindful of a lowly creature like man. It is indeed an awesome thought.

This weak, feeble, sinful being has been made, by God, “a little lower than the angels,” has been “crowned…with glory and honor,” and been given “dominion over the works of thy hands” (vs. 5-6), including “all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the fields, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea” (vs. 6-7). What has man done to deserve this “glory and honor”? Why is God so mindful of us? What have we done besides rebel against Him? With David, we must repeat, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is they name in all the earth!” (v. 9).

Two final thoughts about this psalm. The writer of Hebrews, in chapter 2 of his book, applies this psalm to Jesus. Some believe that Psalm 8 is thus totally Messianic, but I’m not of that persuasion. The dominion God gave to man is a type of the dominion that He gave to Christ. We have that which we rule over, and so does He. And both He and we obtained that honor though being made “a little lower than the angels.”

This psalm also helps us to reflect upon God and His nature. We need to take the time to consider Who—and What—our God is. His infinite wisdom and knowledge, His inexplicable purposes, His love which flows simply from the basis of who He is; and then compare Him to us humans with our limitations, ignorance, and selfishness. Making the effort to meditate on the contrast between God and man should help us to appreciate more just how “excellent” He indeed is.