Bible Reading: Psalm 8
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 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.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
A Reflection:
A few years ago Helen and I enjoyed a cruise around the northern coast of Norway where, on four different nights, we saw the wonder of the Northern Lights. One of the many advantages of living, as we do, in the country rather than the city, is the dark skies and the lack of light pollution. You don’t have to go far on a clear night, or to have a telescope or a detailed knowledge of the stars and the planets, to appreciate the wonder of the heavens that are visible to the naked eye.
As a shepherd boy, David must have spent many nights gazing into the night sky in awe and wonder at the splendour and creativity of God, his heart rising in worship, ‘O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.’
However, while the vastness and splendour of the heavens reminds David of the majesty of God, it also reminds him of the smallness of mankind and the mind-blowing truth that this awesome God also cares for mere human beings, for you and for me. And yet he does. He cares for each one of us and crowns us with glory and honour. And this too draws David’s heart upwards in worship.
But with this relationship comes the responsibility to rule over his world, caring for the flocks and herds, the wild animals, the birds and all that swims in the sea.
I think this is a psalm for today, reminding us of the glory and splendour of God, of the wonder of his creation in the skies, on the land and in the seas, of the love he pours out on us, and of our responsibility to care for his beautiful world.
Why not read through this psalm again and allow it to draw you in worship and prayer.
Pray:
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Help me to worship you both in words and song and also in the way I care for your beautiful world.
Amen
O Lord our God, how majestic is your name.
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