The eighth Psalm exalts the name of the Lord our God in a jubilant and worshipful way. I believe that as we exalt the name of the Lord in this way, we shall find that our sights are lifted, our vision for life is ennobled, our sense of human dignity is uplifted and our care and regard for all creation is enhanced.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! How greatly your glory is refl ected in the works of your hands! How worthy of honor and praise is your name because of your magnifi cent plan for life and eternity! How wholesome and genuine are the influences of your plans and your handiwork in stirring our aspirations toward greater things! How soundly your honorable name calls us to share in life’s most worthwhile pursuits!
I see it as an honor to believe in the Divine Creator of our world and the great universe of which the earth is a part, and to affirm that God’s existence is a higher order of existence on which our physical world and our universe depends for its being. It is an honor to acknowledge that God’s creative vision is refl ected in all that he has made, and that his creative work is a glory to his name.
The psalmist was moved by the majesty and mystery of the heavens, the moon and the stars, and even in that day before modern astronomy and instruments for studying outer space, he felt profoundly small in relation to the vastness “out there.” He saw the greatness observed in the universe as testifying to the greatness of the Creator of all. At the same time, as small as humanity seemed in comparison, the psalmist was amazed that the Creator has given humanity such a great part to play in the enterprises of God. God himself has crowned human beings with great honor and responsibility, giving dominion over the works of the Lord, over the domesticated animals like sheep and oxen, over the wild animals of the fields and lands, over the birds of the air, over the fi sh of the sea, and over other yet unknown creatures in the depths of the seas. Verse 5 says, “For thou has made him a little lower than the angels (or a little lower than God), and hast crowned him with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5 KJV).
One of the central problems we seem to have as human beings is that we are not satisfied with having a role in life just a little lower than the angels. We tend to want to be our own god, rather than discovering how great life becomes as we participate with our Creator in the grander vision. We tend to construct frameworks of the mind in which we fail to acknowledge that the Creator’s vision sets before us relationships and goals that are supremely worth our participation. We tend to suppose that we can “fi nd ourselves” without referring to God, without answering to God’s invitation and urging, without feeling any responsibility for stewardship before God in our handling of affairs in the world, in exercising the dominion we have been given, as though being a success at whatever purpose we design for ourselves is all there is in life.
We believe that we “fi nd ourselves” when we realize that we are part of our Divine Creator’s family, having a destiny based in the grace and vision of one who cares for each of us with a full and merciful love, and who desires blessings to us that are greater than any we might think up on our own. We believe that as we “fi nd ourselves,” in the grace and vision of our Creator, we can enter upon a life in earth and upon an eternity of continuing exploration and discovery of all it means to be blessed of the Lord! We believe that to pursue truth is to seek to see life and all things as God sees all things, and to order all things in perspective as God provides that prospective. Our learning and knowledge as human beings does not lead us to suppose we have no more need for God; rather, learning, wisdom and knowledge point us to the greater mystery and majesty of our Creator, whose creative mind and heart we only begin to glimpse, like little children beginning to wake up to being alive!
Let us not make life too small. Let us be open to realize that life is far more majestic than we humanly may design or imagine. Let us acknowledge, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:9)
Church, Pages 2 on 10/23/2013