Another favorite stop on our Roadtrip through the Psalms.

Here is the video link:

O Lord, our Lord!

Audio links are to the right, and the transcript is below.

Psalm 8… O Lord our Lord

Introduction

Just because I am a skeptic doesn’t mean I don’t believe something when it happens right under my nose. I am a skeptic when it comes to the manifestation of the Gifts of the Spirit – or more correctly, when it comes to PEOPLE claiming to manifest a Gift of the Spirit. These are the gifts mentioned primarily in Paul’s first letter to the CorinthianChurch, chapters 12,13, and 14.

One of the most misused (in my opinion) Spiritual gifts is the Gift of Tongues. The Scripture is very clear on what this gift looks like and how it is to be used in the  Church, which it rarely (again, in my opinion) is. One day I will re-issue my podcast on these Gifts, but suffice it to say – I believe in them. I believe they are extant today. I don’t believe many people understand how, when. and where they operate… 

but I digress…

Rule 1. A man who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men but to God.

Rule 2. The interpretation of said “message in Tongues” should be aimed towards God.

Rule 3. The interpretation of said “message in Tongues” should be, therefore, in the form of a prayer, or praise.

What does all this have to do with this Psalm? So glad you asked. Hang in there with me.

I was at a Foursquare church in Washington state in a Sunday evening service. Across the sanctuary, during the prayer time, a lady stands up and very loudly begins speaking in Tongues. The first thing I noticed is that it wasn’t the usual non-sensical non-syllabic babbling I was used to hearing (do I sound like a skeptic yet?). It sounded like a real language – with words and sentence structure, the works. While she was speaking (it wasn’t long) sentences from this Psalm started bouncing around in my head. When she sat down (being finished) a gentleman to my left stood up and repeated the VERY same words I had been hearing in my head while she was speaking. And they were sentences from this Psalm:

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!…”

“3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

“…4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

Prior to this event I had been pretty much an unbeliever that this particular gift was in use in the Church today, and it was on this day I went from being unbeliever in terms of this gift to merely being a skeptic.

Since that day, this Psalm has held a special place in my heart. 

And THAT, dear friend, “..is the rest of the story…” as Paul Harvey used to say.

8:1a Lord…. OUR Lord

1 Lord, our Lord,

יְהוִה yehwih, n.pr.m. [6827] [→ 3363 also used with compound proper names]. Lord (Yahweh), the proper name of the one true God; knowledge and use of the name implies personal or covenant relationship;

אָדוֹן ’ādôn, n.m. [332] [→ 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157]. lord, master, supervisor, one who has authority over another; husband; owner; the Lord, (with Yahweh [3378]) Sovereign. “Lord of lords” means the highest power or authority;

My father was a celebrity of sorts. In his high school, he was a talented athlete… basketball, track, boxing, baseball. He was in the Chicago Cubs system (baseball) as a pitcher, and he set records in track and field, and basketball in his high school years. As an adult, he became a professional bowler, and later a television and radio broadcaster. Wherever he went, people knew who he was.

Growing up, I was known as “Paul’s son”. I did not appreciate it then as much as I do now. Even today, 22 years after his passing, I am still known as “Paul’s son” to some folks. As I look back through pictures taken as I grew up, I noticed something really interesting. The older I got, the more like Dad I looked. People could look at me and see the relationship between my Dad and I, that we were father and son. That’s the sense of “יְהוִה yehwih”. God is our Father – we are related to Him. There SHOULD be a family resemblance! I loved him. He was – and still is – my hero. I was proud to be recognized as his son.

In our family, and especially at home, my father was DEFINItELY in charge. He was the head of the family. “Large and in Charge”. Don’t get me wrong – he was not abusive or even mean. He was stern, yes, but he did not abuse us. But there was always the possibility that he would go as far as he had to to maintain order in his family. He was the head of the family. THAT is אָדוֹן ’ādôn… Lord.

So this opening verse states the relationship between the Psalmist and God (think “Daddy”) and the authority of God in His position as Father.

8:1b Majesty

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!You have set your glory
    in the heavens.

אַדִּיר ’addîr  mighty, noble, majestic, splendid; (n.) any powerful or awesome person: noble, believer, elite soldier; (as a divine title) the Mighty One, with a focus on the power and splendor of God

8:1c Seeing God in Creation

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.

You can look at the “heavens” (creation) and see God’s attributes. People look at me and see shadows of my father. You can look at the heavens and see the shadow of God. Paul tells us in Romans 19b-20:

“…what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Our beloved Father, with whom we have relationship,. as a beloved child, has set His signature in His creation.

8:2 The Power of Praise

2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.

The praise of the most insignificant and weakest members of humanity is enough to withstand the onslaught of the enemy of our soul. Praise is a powerful weapon in our arsenal in the ongoing battle between the Church and the Satanic forces that assail us. Praise of our Lord will silence our enemy.

8:3-5 Why us?

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?[c]

I see all the planets, the moon, the sun, the stars – I realize your power. I cannot help but ask – “why?”. WHY do you pay ANY attention to mankind at all? Compared to everything You have done in creation, why are WE special? Monkey-like creatures, scurrying around on this mud ball called Earth, pretending as if WE are in charge… It is incredulous to me that You pay ANY attention to us at all, You are actually MINDFUL of us – You actually CARE for us. Mind-blowing.

8:5-8 Our Special place in God’s Creation

5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
    and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.

For a time, we are a little lower than the angels in stature and power and yet…. we are crowned with glory and honor. Again – WHY? Even though we have ALL sinned and come short of the Glory of God, yet He allows us to occupy a very special place in God’s Kingdom, lower than the angels in power and might, yet given something that no angel will ever really understand – God’s grace, the adoption into His family.

6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their[g] 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.

We occupy a special place in the created order, ruling over everything else HE has created. Is it no surprise that the Psalmist closes this Psalm as he opened it – with a sense of amazement and awe?

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

 

Blessings!

Paige