How Majestic is God's Name

Leading up to my eighth birthday, our family went through the interview process to adopt my younger brother. The woman from the adoption agency asked me how I felt about having another brother. My response: “As long as he doesn’t arrive on my birthday and ruin it!” I wanted to be the center of the universe on my birthday. My birthday should be all about me not some new, little brother. Thankfully, the woman understood kids and didn’t hold my comment against our family. As only God can work, my younger brother arrived from Korea the day after my birthday, and he and I were very close growing up.

Psalm 8 is familiar to me or at least parts of it. In the early eighties, Michael W. Smith wrote a song called “How Majestic is Your Name which is based on the first and last verses of Psalm 8. I’ve heard verse 3-4 read or quoted numerous times, but being familiar with a verse or two from the Psalm didn’t give me an understanding of the whole Psalm. I have enjoyed studying Psalm 8 the past week and seeing how two separate ideas in my thinking together formed a much more beautiful and complete truth.

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth! [1]

Psalm 8 is chiastic, meaning the main ideas repeat in reverse order. A very brief outline might look like this.

God’s name is majestic in all the earth (vs 1)

God’s creative work in the heavens (vs 2-3)

God’s thought and care for man (vs 4)

God’s creative work in the earth (vs 5-8)

God’s name is majestic in all the earth (vs 9)

We won’t look into every detail of this Psalm, but I do want to examine what the chiastic structure shows us. At the structural center of the Psalm is the question David asks: “what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” This question is answered in the verses immediately preceding and following (one step out in the chiastic structure). In God’s creation, man is the center. He is the center of the universe. As Mark Futato stated it, “The heavens and the earth revolve around us.”[2]

In His creation, God made man in His image, He made man a little lower than the heavenly beings, crowned man with glory and honor, and gave man dominion over the earth and living creatures. This is why God is mindful of us, why He cares for us – He made us to have a special and central position in His creation.

Now, let’s move out one more step in the chiastic structure to the theme that frames the whole Psalm: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth” (vs 1, 9)! God made man the center of the universe, but God is the one to whom all glory is due. Man is only at the center because God placed him there. God is the one who is ultimate in the universe. Nothing and no one can surpass Him. Man is nothing apart from God. In fact, man would not even exist but for God creating him.

On my eighth birthday, I wanted to place myself at the center of the universe. I wanted the glory. My selfish, prideful attitude completely opposed what Psalm 8 is about. Our purpose, our central place in the universe is to glorify God not self.

There is one more point I want to touch on that isn’t in the overall themes of the chiastic structure, but I think it is good to discuss. “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, You have established strength because of Your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger” (vs 2). This seems out of place at first, but on closer look it is fitting. OK, praise from babies and infants is fitting. All creation should praise the Creator, but what is this about foes, enemies, and avengers?

“Psalm 8 is the fulfilling of the vow made in 7:17 [18]. Psalm 7 is a prayer for protection against the “enemies” encountered in the previous psalms (3:7; 6:7, 10), as well as in Psalm 7 itself (7:4–6).”[3] The place of honor God has given man does not mean that we are exempt from suffering. We live in a fallen world, and as children of God we are told that we will suffer for Jesus’ sake. We can get caught up in our God-given position and even in God’s glory and think we are immune to suffering, but we are not, at least not this side of eternity.

Finally, this Psalm points us to Jesus who was fully God yet took on flesh and became a little lower than the heavenly beings. He suffered and died at the hands of His enemies, and He rose to life being crowned with all glory and honor: “though he [Jesus] was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”[4]

Reflection

1. What “God is…” truths do you find in Psalm 8?

2. Psalm 8 ties to Genesis 1 where we read that God made man in His image and gave man dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28). You are at the center of God’s thoughts and care because of how God created you and placed you in creation. How does the value God places on you impact your own view of yourself and how you think God sees you?

3. We were created to glorify God. Think of specific things in creation including things about yourself for which to thank and praise God.

4. In your suffering, how do the truths of God’s care for us at the center of His creation and His majesty and sovereign rule over all creation encourage and give you hope in your suffering?

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 8:title–9. [2] Mark D. Futato, “The Book of Psalms,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009), 54. [3] Mark D. Futato, “The Book of Psalms,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009), 54. [4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Php 2:6–11.