Psalm 8 – God Visited Us
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
“O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?” (verses 1-4)
Psalm 8 is a Messianic Psalm that prophesies Jesus’ birth and His dominion over everything in the heavens and on the earth. Even in these first 4 verses – we are shown that God can bring strength through a babe and silence the enemy.
This Psalm is quoted in four places in the New Testament:
Matthew 21:16 - as Jesus was lauded by the crowds on Palm Sunday traveling through the streets of Jerusalem.
1 Corinthians 15:27 - as the Apostle Paul details how Jesus will ultimately destroy our final enemy – Satan.
Hebrews 2:5-8 - describing how Jesus took on death – so that He would have ultimate authority over everything.
Ephesians 1:22 - laying out how Jesus is the head of the church and above it all.
When Adam and Eve sinned and ate the fruit in the garden – God had a plan to set things right. His goal was to have relationship with mankind, so He was not going to leave them in their sin and despair. He even told the first couple that He was not going to leave them in complete hopelessness, but that He was going to provide for them a Deliverer.
In Genesis, God told the serpent what was in his future...that the Messiah was going to crush his head in the days ahead.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15
In this beautiful Psalm (Psalm 8) – God lays out the glory of His name and how the story of the Gospel is so powerful for all of us on earth. Jesus had everything – all glory, power, and dominion – yet He came to the earth as a baby – in humility – to save and to redeem us. When we think about the billions of stars in our universe and that God knows every one of them – it should be overwhelming to us that He would think about our lives.
I am not a scientist, but the one truth that encourages me to study biology, zoology, astronomy, anatomy, geology, and chemistry is that it all has a master planner. I can learn more about God when I study His creation. When we look at the human body and see all of the intricate details – we see the Creator. When we see the constellations – we see the Creator. God wants to awaken in us the revelation of His goodness as we look at His creation.
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?” (verse 4)
I love the idea that God came to VISIT us.
He came to visit us – humanity- in our frail and poor state.
He came to us. To you. To me.
This is one of my favorite verses in Psalm 8 because it points out the truth that God is mindful of us even in the middle of His vast knowledge of all the universe.
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth! (verses 5-9)
Our Father God took the all-powerful Son and made him “a little lower than the angels” so that the ultimate redemptive victory could be lived out in His death, burial, and resurrection. He fulfilled His Word. He went to hell and took the keys to the kingdom and “put all things under His feet.”
This story of redemption is why JESUS is worthy of our praise and worship. He redeemed us and His name is forever excellent in all the earth.
We worship because He is worthy.
He is worthy because He has been faithful to His Word.
There is no name that is higher than His name because of what He did for us.
“Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
I remember when I was 10 years old, and I went on a trip to Colorado for the first time. I was with my Pathfinder group – a church group like the Girl Scouts – where we were sleeping under the stars, camping, hiking, and breathing in freedom. I had never seen the majestic mountains before in person - only in pictures – but there they were now in front of me – awakening all my senses. They took my breath away, and I could not wait to walk toward them, stare at them, and realize that I would never be the same after seeing them. I FELT God. I felt the nearness of God in a way that I never had previously.
This is the majestic vision that we can carry when we sing songs about Him, when we bow down before Him, when we spend time with Him and acknowledge who Jesus is. It is a beautiful vision of His majesty.
It is one that will forever change us if we will let it. His name is “excellent in all the earth.”
Let’s read this one more time. Let it sink in.
God knows us. God visited us.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?” (verses 3-4)
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