For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 8 – God who is Majestic

1 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honour.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

A. Find Out:

1. How does the Psalm begin & end? v.1,9
2. Why does David see the Lord like that? v.3
3. Who recognises all this? v.2
4. What is the position of mankind? v.5
5. What is the role of mankind? v.6
6. What does David marvel over? v.4

B. Think:

1. How is man seen to be different from the animal kingdom?
2. How do you think children praise the Lord for His creation?
3. How is the Lord portrayed here?

C. Comment:

     In Psa 19 we note revelation through Creation. This psalm furthers that thought. The Lord’s name is majestic, it is a name that is higher than any other as the Ruler-Creator of all things, but who acknowledges that? Every time a child looks in simplicity at the sky or the flowers and says, “Isn’t that wonderful!” or “Isn’t that pretty!” or “Isn’t that beautiful!” they are acknowledging that what is before them is more than mere molecules brought together by chance, they are bringing praise to the One who made it all. The atheist may deny it all, but again and again, they simply proclaim in wonder the hand of God in it all. This is a designed world!

      When David considers creation, he wonders at the smallness of man, but also at the fact that God has made man only a little less than the powerful and glorious angels, but greater than all other creatures in creation. There is no room here for the philosophy that we are just advanced animals. NO, we are the peak of God’s creation on earth, made to rule over all other living things. Such is the glory of man, and yet at the same time, the shame of man, in that he has forfeited so much of his position and role, when he rejected his God.

D. Application?

1. God’s creation is truly wonderful and should bring praise to my lips when I consider it.
2. I am the peak of God’s creation, ruler over all living things. Wow!