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Transcript

Psalm 8:1–9 — How Majestic Is Your Name | Bible Commentary · A Tithe of Time Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to A Tithe of Time, Rooted in Wisdom, Growing Wiser, one passage at a time.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today we'll be looking at Psalm 8, 1 to 9, reading from the ESV.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of Man that you care for him?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's look closer.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 8 begins and ends with the same declaration O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Everything in between explains why.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: David looks upward first.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: The heavens are described as the work of your fingers.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Think about that picture.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: The moon and stars, which seem enormous to us, are spoken of as something God simply set in place.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that leads David to a question.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: If creation is this vast, what is man that you are mindful of him?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: That question is not saying human life is worthless.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is asking why beings so small compared with the heavens receive such attention from God.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is surprising.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Humanity is not forgotten.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: God has crowned mankind with glory and honor and given human beings dominion over the works of his hands.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: That language reaches back to the role God gave humanity in creation.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: People are placed within creation, but also given responsibility over it.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Dominion is not permission to abuse what God made, it is a position of stewardship under the one who owns it.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: There is another striking contrast near the beginning.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: God establishes strength out of the mouth of babies and infants.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: The psalm places weakness and strength side by side.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: God is not limited to what looks powerful by human standards.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Then notice the movement of the whole psalm.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: David starts with God's greatness, looks at the vastness of creation, becomes aware of humanity's smallness, and then discovers humanity's dignity.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: That balance matters.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 8 does not make mankind the center of the universe.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: God remains the center.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the God whose glory is above the heavens still chooses to care about human beings and give them a meaningful place within his creation.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the picture Psalm 8 1-9 leaves us with.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we'll continue in our rooted in wisdom series with Proverbs 3 27 35.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, tithe your time.