A Sense of Place
Opening Prayer
Mighty Creator God, how very beautiful is this world You made! I praise You for Your great creative power.
Read Psalm 8:1-9
[1] For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. 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 honor. [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! Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
What are some reasons the psalmist praises God?Some friends and I once spent several hours outdoors in a nearby field on a surprisingly warm, clear evening looking up at the sky. With very little light pollution, visibility was amazing. The longer we stayed and gazed up, the better it got and the more constellations we were able to see. I had a real insight into what David writes here: how majestic God is to have made all this beauty; how tiny and insignificant I seem in comparison; and how wonderful it is that God thinks of me and cares for me. The psalm speaks of the place God gives us in the order of creation: lower than the angels, but above everything else that he made. Along with that comes the responsibility to rule over it. It’s fair to say we haven’t always done that well, either for the earth itself or what lives on it. David surrounds his meditation with praise to the Lord for the majesty of his name. That suggests, perhaps, that our position in creation and the part we play in it should also be causes for praise.
Apply
This psalm also reminds us of Jesus–crowned with glory and honor. Thank him for what he means to you.
Closing prayer
Lord of all, remind me each day of Your love for me and all Your creation, and give me a heart to care for it, also.
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.