Monday 19th December
Read Psalm 8
“Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
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?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honour.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their 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.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (NIVUK)
David’s awe at the place of humanity in creation is so artfully expressed it warrants long and thoughtful reflection and it is entirely appropriate this great psalm begins and ends with the Lord (v1, 9). But as David considers the insignificance of man in the cosmic scheme of things and is left in awe, we, this side of Christmas, should be left in even more.
For we are mere cosmic dust motes spiraling through an immense universe created by a God far above all things. Yet God chose to come down from the heavens, become one of those motes Himself, and in so doing reveal His true glory to all. What is man that you should become one with us?
‘How majestic is your name in all the earth…’
