God Made us Special
Study Scripture: Psalm 8
Lesson 1

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Key Verse

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.

Psalm 8:4-5.

 

INTRODUCTION

The Book of Psalms is considered to be the Prayer Book of the Bible and we should quite properly approach our lesson today, as if it were a personal prayer that can raise our prayer lives to new levels.  

In this Psalm David is rejoicing, and he speaks directly with the Lord God.  He's not trying to teach us anything, neither is he trying to persuade us about anything.  He is doing what we should be doing, namely, talking to God and telling Him what he means to us.  

There is no better prayer that this one in Psalm Eight.  It is not only great poetry but shows powerful insights into the nature of our Creator God, as well as the nature with which God endowed man at his creation.  

The teaching in this Psalm is so powerful and meaningful that Jesus quoted this when he was making his triumphant entry into Jerusalem .

The writer of Hebrews has also quoted this Psalm to explain the nature of man; teaching us about who man really is and what God intended him to be.  

We should pay particular attention to the fact that David said: that he had thought a great deal about the life of man on earth, examined history, investigated the heavens, carefully considered the way that God worked and accordingly his understanding about God and his relationship to God had led him to a deep appreciation of God.

Many believe that a psalm such as this must have been written when David was still a young shepherd boy and alone at night with the sheep in the hills of Bethlehem in Judea .  He would be looking at the clear star filled heavens and had been so inspired and awestruck that the only thing that filled his mind is the theme in verse 1 and verse 9

“O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth.”  

He starts the Psalm with a reflection on God’s majesty in the earth and at the end of his reflection, he rejoices in God’s majesty.  

Note also that there is a great contrast between Psalm 2 and this Psalm.  There, man is in rebellion against God and his rule on earth.  God laughs at the rebels. Here the King is presented as having put all things under his feet and he rules over men and over the earth.  David is no rebel and so he is most happy with the majesty and excellency of God.  

When we read this Psalm, we wonder how men could even dream of challenging the Creator. But we know that any consideration of the Creator God brings something to the mind of rebellious men that they prefer to forget and which they have tried to change. This of course is the establishment of the Sabbath by the Creator God and which observance he mandated.  

Sabbath worship and observance must remind us of Psalm Eight and its great themes. Man place in this psalm is firmly and irrevocably as a creature, made to obey and glorify his Creator in every respect. So let us be careful how we deal with God’s Sabbath that he made for man. The Sabbath was not made for us to do as we wish, but it was made for our benefit, which can only come when we learn to fear God.  

We hold that Psalm Eight is a psalm of praise that shows great wisdom and is linked with the great creation text of Genesis One. When it speaks of man, it is to immediately point to praising the Creator who made humanity.  

This is very important, for it tells us that man has already been approved by God for he made us.  So our problem is then a very simple one, and its solution is to take the path that he has advised us to follow. 

THE TEXT

Verse 1.   David addressed God with reverence and humility, stating the obvious but very important point; God is the Lord and also importantly, that he is our Lord.  

The name the Lord, is Adonai, the Sovereign. This immediately raises the importance of acknowledging that God is ‘ours’; for if we belong to him and if we accept that, logically the idea that he made us should give us no difficulty at all.  

If He made us, He would protect and take special care of us, since we are his possession. Since he is ‘ours’, we should obey and submit to Him.  The Scriptures of course teach us all of those things and constantly remind us of them.  

Note that the one to whom we pray is our Lord, not some distant impersonal power.  Since he is our Lord we have obviously been placed in a special relationship with him. We called this a covenant relationship for there is a covenant between us.  

Note also that though we can say ‘my lord’, David is careful to say that he is our Lord.  

David warned that he knew that given that he was in a relationship to God, he was immediately in a relationship to everyone who was related to God. He was well aware of being in a congregation together with all those that belonged to “Our Lord.”  

Filled with awareness and rejoicing in his relationship, David spoke of the majesty of the ‘name’ of God.  For Jews a name had very deep meaning, for the name summarized or put together everything that the person was and stood for.  To say that God's name was excellent or majestic meant that everything about God, his nature, his being and his works were all filled with infinite worth and infinite honour.  This was what David valued, for the name of God represents everything about God.  The world, money, its fame, its power… nothing else is of value but God.  

No one can rival God, and all rebels are set aside, all opposition defeated.  

God's name, or perfections shine all through the earth.  Everything in creation shouts that this infinite, all powerful, perfect, Sovereign ruler, Protector and Provider exists.  

Men might refuse to bow their knees now, close their eyes to the truth, refuse to listen to the voice which everywhere tells them about this God, or accept this truth, but it is there nevertheless.  There is no speech or language where the voice of truth is not heard.  Whether men like it or not, the majesty of God is everywhere and in ever place all the time.  We should be careful not to become so wrapped up in the mundane pressures and things of life, that we neglect to see and take time to meditate on the majesty of God all around us.  

This transcendent glory of God shines not only in this lower world but it also shines in the heavens and above the heavens.  

The point is that God is so great. that the heavens reflect his glory and this glory has spread throughout earth, so that it is clear that He has glorified himself in earth and in man.

Verse 2.   Though God is transcendent and awesome and his greatness is far above the heavens, He has so powerfully and amazingly revealed himself and his glory, that even the weakest and apparently most insignificant of his creatures, especially the babes and nursing infants can grasp who he is and what he means.  The children can grasp and express it.  

What is amazing is that God has done this, obviously in a strange way that we would never do, in order to say something to his enemies.

Though God is all- powerful, He does not use the power in the way that men would.  In fact his method does not seem to use ‘power’ as defined by men, at all. He deals with his enemies by using ‘weak and lowly vessels’, children and infants, little ones, not the strong and powerful people.  He uses ordinary people to move and promote his kingdom forward and to destroy the satanic forces that have ruled the world.  

Remember that the gospel is called ‘the arm of the Lord’, and so a bunch of semi-literate fishermen and despised Jews were the ones chosen to work wonders in the world.  It was not necessary for Jesus to be born in a palace, or to have the approval of the elite, the religious rulers, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.   

It was to be expected that they, the powerful would reject Jesus and his Father, for God had chosen the weak and foolish things of the world, unlikely instruments, to confound those that are known to, mighty, wise and powerful.  

There is to be no question that salvation is a gift of God and that the power of the gospel is in His Name alone.  By the power and glory of God, Satan is stilled, his people silenced, his supporters confounded and the proud and insolent people put to shame.  

That is why when a professing Christian pretends, is proud, haughty, and elevated, there is a question if that person belongs belong to God.  Such a one does not intend to give God the glory. God will use the weak instruments of the world to put to shame, that person.  

God's name is glorious.  It’s power will quietly penetrate the hearts of men and break down the walls erected by Satan.

This offensive and defensive power of God has been given to those that the world considers to be foolish, feeble, and weak.  His name becomes even more glorious and everyone look to the conquering God and not to self.  

Consider that God often uses children because they are humble.  They listen to everything and are especially receptive to the voice of God.

God often uses children to teach truths that adults will not accept.  He wants us to understand that the knowledge route is not the way to find God.  The way to find God is to listen with the humility of a child.  This lesson is taught clearly by Jesus himself in Matthew 18:3.

Verse 3.  We have been told that God has set his glory above the heavens.  We are told that it has been ordained, that is, founded, prepared, perfected, that the sucklings, those who are at age to speak, would be used by God to silence those that want to quarrel with God, fight against him and those who desire to take revenge against the people of God, attacking God's government.  

Here David looked at the beauty of God's creation, the splendor of it, the wonders of nature which God had made with his own hands and which belonged to him.  

The expression ‘that God made these with his own fingers’ indicates that David considered God to be a great artist. This was personal design work.  He knew that they sun was powerful, but David ignored this and referred to the ‘inferior’ lights God had created, which though not as powerful as the sun, showed the glory and power of God by their beauty and numbers.

Verse 4.  The creation was vast, beautiful and glorious and so David wondered why God had bothered to make man since man was so puny and weak.  These things were great and so why would he make frail man.  

Why would God pay attention to man and his needs, play any part in his welfare, feeding, clothing, protecting, showing him mercy and much kindness.  

This question must come to anyone who thinks about the greatness of God, for if God could make a universe like this, what is the purpose of man on this small planet. Is there significance in his creation and his living?  Why would God send his Holy Spirit to teach him, give him the Law and Commandments and the gospel and the prophets, given that man is such an inferior being?  

Let us realize that there are basically two answers to this question.

The first classification comes from a mechanistic way of looking at life.  Science tells us that man is nothing more than a creature, that he is just like all the other animals, even though he is more intelligent and rational.  

He came about by accident, and there is nothing else but a great cosmic machine which keeps on grinding, with man being an insignificant cog.  Nothing is permanent, life is futile, life is meaningless.  One philosopher Bertrand Russell puts it this way:

“ The life of man is a long march through the night surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, toward a goal that few can hope to reach and where none may tarry long.  One by one as they march our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death.  

Man’s life is brief and powerless.  On him and all his race the slow sure doom falls, pitiless and dark.  Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way.  For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day.”

Verse 5.  David had a different answer to the silly philosophies of the world and the pagan religions. He tells us that God had looked at his creation, declared it good and he has looked at us and approved us.  

He proved this position by looking at how God had set up his work, for the greatness of God is revealed by what he intended to do with man.  

He had indicated that man had dignity by making him a little bit lower than the Angels, the powerful messengers of God, according to the translation of the Septuagint.  Actually, the literal Hebrew translation is, man is made “ little less than Elohim”, that is a little lower than God.  

It appears that God has crowned man with the attributes of royal dignity, endowing him with noble abilities that distinguish him and qualify him for ruling over his world.  

Man is in the image of God and a little less than divine, a little less than angelic in power and might.  But God has expressed himself in men so that all creatures would see this.

In fact we know that man is so much of a unique and remarkable being, that though he is weak, God intended to live in him and to bring him to glory.  This is indeed an astoundingly great honor.  Just to have the Holy Spirit of God live in us, direct us, control us and transform us daily into the image of the very God the Son, is absolutely amazing.  Man is indeed crowned with honor and glory.

Verse 6-8.  To reflect this unique relationship, man was made to have dominion.  He was made to rule the animal creation and to control the natural forces in the world.  This rule was not to be an ungodly one, but a rule where all the creatures would willingly serve man and carefully submit to him.  

This is not a rule where he pollutes the air, contaminates the soil and ruin's natural resources.  Instead, God put everything under his feet, not wanting him to profane his crown, but to behave according to the nature of God in his dealings with the animals and nature.  

Of course, this passage also highlights the fact that Jesus who was made man, showed what man should really have been like, though he was made a little lower than the Angels.  God showed us through the Son, that we are to be a new humanity, made in the image of his Son, and so we wait as Paul said in Romans 8, for the manifestation of the Sons of God, so that we will really see what God intended us to be.  

Note that there has been no greater honor put on any creature than to have God himself, Jesus of Nazareth become a man.  

Clearly we have a most magnificent God, who will work through infants and those that are ‘weak’, though he created the heavens and the earth.  He has crowned the ‘weak’ man with glory and honour and is concerned and compassionate, vowing to bring those who come to him to a magnificent and glorious destiny.  There is no greater honor than to have the presence of the Redeemer with us, to be enlightened by his gospel and to be governed by His Holy Spirit in wisdom and power.  

Verse 9.   David has shown that the glory of God is in the heavens and on the earth. Jesus has applied this psalm to himself to make it clear that the glory of God, the Messiah had come as a man.  

Man has lost a lot, but more has been restored by Jesus than what had been lost.  Man, redeemed and in Christ, has been raised above the Angels.  

Redemption has placed some demands on him.  He must act in accordance with being in the image of God and in Christ.  

So David comes back to his starting theme, where full of adoration that he cannot fully describe or even understand, simply says:

“O Yahweh, my Sovereign” the one who is in control,  How great you are!

CONCLUSION

Let us meditate on these things:  

1. That God gave his Son to take on himself human nature, not the nature of the more powerful Angels
2. To die for our sins, the just dying for the unjust to bring us sinners to himself and to forgive our sins,
3. To bring us into the light with him
4. To give us an eternal inheritance.
5. To make us sit in heavenly places with him
6. But before that to make man and to allow fallen and wretched man to be lord of the creatures.

We are special, but we must understand that universal dominion belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ and it is only to him that all glory should be given.  

We ‘sit in heavily places’ because we are in Jesus Christ.  

To think that the all-powerful, infinite God would use the weak and foolish things to show his glory and then to transform and elevate them to sit with his Son in heavily places, shows how marvelous, great and excellent God glory truly is.  

We can hardly imagine it but it is there.  Let us behave as he has instructed, and not let our vile fleshly desires control us.