Psalms 8:1-9 (KJV)
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
If you are like me, you probably give a bit confused whenever you read of those early years of David when his name goes from being one his father hardly paid attention to, to when he became the closest thing Israel had at the time to a superstar.
When Samuel anointed him to be king instead of Saul, he was an absolute unknown.
· Samuel didn’t know Jesse had an eighth son and
· Jesse wasn’t that keen to introduce them
But it wasn’t long after Samuel had pronounced that the kingdom would be removed from Saul and given to another that Saul started demonstrating this “evil spirit” and it was recommended that someone be found to play good music to sooth the king’s mood whenever that spirit came upon him.
That one who was found was David.
Interestingly, the Bible says of him that he was already a man of war[1].
1 Samuel 16:15-23 (KJV)
And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.
And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.
Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.
Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.
And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul.
And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer.
And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight.
And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
Yet it is in the next chapter that David killed Goliath and Saul inquires who he is.
1 Samuel 17:55-58 (KJV)
And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is.
And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
Some scholars have suggested that it is very possible that when David began playing to sooth the king, Saul never paid attention to who he was.
It is very common that, a crowd may be in a room hearing beautiful music, and even read a sign announcing who the musician is, but the crowd is so focused on other things that they do not even try to remember the name and face.
Others suggest that this section of the Bible employs a very typical Jewish writing style where they:
· Tell you what they are going to tell you
· Tell you and than
· Tell you what they told you
It happens in Genesis chapters 1-2 where in chapter 1 we are told that God created man and in chapter 2 we are given a description of that creation.
One old scholar has attempted to give us a possible timeline for this piece of David’s life like this[2]:
- David is anointed by Samuel;
- Carries provisions to his brethren in the army;
- Fights with and kills Goliath;
- Is received into the king’s court,
- Contracts a friendship with Jonathan;
- Incurs Saul’s jealousy;
- Retires to his father’s house;
- Is after some time sent for by Saul to sooth his melancholy with his harp;
- Again excites Saul’s jealousy, who endeavors to smite him with his javelin.
It is believed that David wrote Psalm 8 during this transitional period.
See David trapped between those hills where he watches his father’s sheep and the court where hears the chants of the people, “Saul has slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.”
Indeed, there is some similarity of expression between David’s Psalm and his response when he is offered the hand of Saul’s daughter in marriage,
Psalms 8:4
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
1 Samuel 18:17-23 (KJV)
And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.
And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?
But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.
And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.
And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king's son in law.
And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
I suggest to you that we find the essence of a heart after God’s in Psalm 8.
Psalms 8:1-9 (KJV)
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
First, the heart after God
I. IS GROUNDED WITH PRAISE FOR GOD
Psalms 8:1 (KJV)
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Psalms 8:9 (KJV)
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
I view this as the foundation of a man’s life.
He begins and he ends his days in the very same place.
There is something to be said for:
· Waking up in the same place every morning
· Coming home to the same address every evening
· Kissing the same wife and children every day and
· Laying down in the same bed every night
You begin and you end every day in the very same place.
These are the things that root us in our world.
They give us an anchor.
· When troubles come
· When darkness sets in
· When burdens weigh us down
The thing that keeps us steady is the place where we begin and we end.
Isn’t it interesting that this is one of the names of Jesus?
Revelation 1:8 (KJV)
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Picture David trapped in this “no man’s land.”
· One day is he tending his father’s few sheep
· The next day he is playing his harp before the king
· The next day he is leading the soldiers of Israel in combat
· The next day he is dodging the spear of his king
· The next day he returns to his father’s sheep and
· Then he is sitting in the king’s court again
He is a young man right now, probably not twenty.
Where does he find stability, an anchor; where does he go to be rooted and grounded in the midst of all of this turmoil.
He begins with the excellency of God and, before his day is done, he is sure to be in that same place once again.
Second, the heart after God
II. MEDITATES UPON GOD’S HANDIWORK
Psalms 8:3 (KJV)
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
I want to say first of all that the word consider really has to do with everything in this Psalm.
David considers, the excellency of God’s name.
The he considers the work of God’s finger which,
Leads him to consider what is the rest of this Psalm.
He considers the work of God’s fingers
· Thy heavens
· The moon and
· The stars
· They belong to God
· They were created by God and
· They have been ordained – arranged, ordered purposed by God
The word ordained contradicts every notion of evolutionary theory.
There is a direct correlation between:
· The teaching of evolution
· The dismissing of Creation and
· The terrible shooting of 17 people at the Florida school this last week.
There is no way to understand the Christian faith except to understand it in the backdrop of Creation.
So, after the shooting
· Some people start blaming guns
· Some people start blaming mental illness
But
· The real culprit is the theory of evolution
· There have always been weapons and violence using weapons
· There have always been mentally ill people and violence by them
But the thing that can be measured is this,
· When science replaced Creation with evolution
· When God was kicked out of schools and children were taught responsible to the One who made them
· Violence of all sorts and
· Mental illness of all sorts
began to increase measurably.
Sanity and human responsibility is painted on the backdrop of God’s handiwork.
· The teaching of creation
· The understanding of it and
· The meditation of it
Is fundamental to our understanding or our place in this universe.
Without it, we are but animals and have proven we will act like animals.
The heart after God
III. CONTEMPLATES ON MAN’S LOWLINESS
Psalms 8:4-5 (KJV)
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
To this we may add,
Psalms 8:2 (KJV)
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
Think of David.
He is nothing more than a shepherd boy.
He is a “babe” if, you will.
But he is the one ordained of God to slay the Goliath, the enemy of God.
He is a lowly musician.
But he is the one ordained of God to slay the tens of thousands of the Philistines.
He is the youngest of his father’s children.
But he is the one ordained of God to become the next king in Israel.
No wonder he wrote,
What is man that thou art mindful of him?
God can,
· Do anything
· Make anything
· Choose anyone
That God thinks of David at all is a wonderment in his soul.
I would never advocate self-belittlement.
It serves no good to be self-deprecating.
I am not speaking about a spiritual pity party where you whip yourself into tears at how rotten and ungodly you are.
Everyone of us is of great worth in the sight of God and, should our sins seem overwhelming, Jesus Christ, remember is our advocate before the Father.
What is a healthy exercise is to place ourselves in contrast to God behind the backdrop of Creation.
What will happen is that you will start to see where you fit into the bigger picture and you will begin to realize two things:
· How insignificant you appear in the scheme of God’s creation and
· How significant you are to the plan for God’s creation
By the way – that’s humility;
You see how little you are and at the same time, important you are to God.
The heart that seeks God
· Is Grounded in Praise for God
· Meditates on the Handiwork of God
· Contemplates the Lowliness of Man
Finally, the heart that seeks God
IV. ACKNOWLEDGES MAN’S DUTY
Psalms 8:5-8 (KJV)
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
· It is humbling to think that God is mindful of us but
· It is inspiring to think that God uses us
A. He uses us to still His enemies
Psalms 8:2 (KJV)
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
Notice that it is His enemy and not ours. We leave our enemies up to Him.
B. He uses us in ways He will not use the angels
Psalms 8:5 (KJV)
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
C. He uses us give order to the earth
Psalms 8:5-6 (KJV)
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
The word “dominion: means to rule or govern.
By implication, it means
· To set boundaries,
· To make walls and
· To fence in
David is, I believe, meditating on Samuel anointing him to be the next king.
God has crowned him to govern and lead the people, God’s sheep.
He will make and enforce laws for the honor of God and the good of all people.
He knows he is not worthy, but he does not shrink from this calling.
Conclusion
The word that most accurately represents the lesson of this Psalm is humility.
The heart that seeks after God is a humble heart:
· Surrounded by the greatness of God
· Awed by lowliness of man and yet
· Bound to action by God’s call upon his life
[1] Perhaps the stories of his killing the lion and the bear have gotten around.
[2] Adam Clarke cites a Dr. Warburton for this timeline for David.