Psalm 8 - God Created, Cares for, and Crowns Us!

LINK: Psalm 8 

BACKGROUND

This is one of the "nature psalms" along with Psalms 19, 29, 65, and 104.  It is also considered a "Messianic psalm" because it is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 21:16, and verses from it are applied to Christ in Hebrews 2:6-8; 1 Corinthians 15:27, and Ephesians 1:22. We became a little lower than Elohim. Some translations say "God" for this, but it can also mean "heavenly beings" or "angels."  

This psalm exalts God's majestic name and man's place in the whole scheme of things. As Warren Wiersbe says about this psalm, "God created us, cares for us, and crowns us"!

It is also interesting to note that David asks questions of his king like Mephibosheth did of his (2 Samuel 9:8 and Psalm 8:4).

REFLECTION

This Psalm always makes me smile. :) When I was a nanny in Spain in 1982, I would read a book called, Sing a Song of Gladness, which had Psalm set to poetry that little kids would understand. Those girls loved this book and asked me to read it over and over again. I think it benefited me even more than it benefited them because it instilled in me such a wonder of God and gave me such a heart of praise in the midst of a very difficult time overseas!

All the poems in it were priceless, and I wrote music to go along with many of the Psalm. I think my favorite was Psalm 8.  I remember singing it in Spain in 1982 and again on a moonlit beach in Thailand in 1988. I love the simplicity of this poem:

I look at the sky which You have made,
At the myriad lights glowing there,
And I ask, "What am I that You think of me? 
"Oh, Lord, what am I that You care? 
You've made me to rule this glorious world, 
You've crowned me Your child and heir. 
Oh, Lord, I can only sing Your praise 
When I see how much you care!

(Maybe, on some starry night, I will put a video of me singing it!)

APPLICATION/PRAYER

Go out under the stars and marvel at this big God who made you!