GOD AND US
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, give me a mind and heart overflowing with thanksgiving and praise today. Enable all that I am to glorify my Savior and show others who he is.
Read PSALM 8
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm 8[a]
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.
1 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?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
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.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Footnotes
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love’ (Thomas Chisholm, 1923). Use this or another hymn or worship song to come before God today.A few friends and I once spent several hours on a very mild, clear November evening on Dartmoor in Devon. We stopped to gaze at the stars. There was no light pollution, and the longer we looked up into the night sky, the more we could see the heavens. More stars became visible, and the immensity of space seemed both vast and very close. It was a wonderful experience.
In this psalm, David expresses that awe and wonder in direct praise to God. The majesty and power of the Lord is extolled. It leads David to ask, ‘Why do you bother with us?’ (v. 4, The Message). It seems overwhelming to him that the Lord should be mindful of and care for us.
Having seen the power of God acting on their behalf, Moses and the Israelites might have answered that question differently—but they stood, and we now stand, in awe of the name of the Lord, and in awe that he knows and loves us.
Apply
We have let God down in caring for the Earth and all its inhabitants (vv. 5–8). What opportunities do you (or your church) have to encourage people to care for the Earth, not just because it’s a good thing to do but because it’s God’s creation?
Closing prayer
Father, thank you for giving me senses that enable me to experience and enjoy your creation. Help me to be a good steward of all you have made.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 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.