Psalm 8 • My God Is My Creator

What are your thoughts when you view and consider the vastness of the heavens above you? Do you acknowledge God’s awesomeness? We tend to feel insignificant and unimportant as we glimpse the vastness and splendor of God’s creation. Yet the amazing truth is that we matter more to God than words can describe. Psalm 8 beautifully reveals that you and I are highly significant to God! 

A Look at Psalm 8

The book of Psalms is one of the great treasure chests of the Bible. It is a collection of 150 poems, prayers, and praises (each called a ‘psalm’) written by Jews in the time before Christ. Because most were also sung to the accompaniment of various instruments, this collection became the hymnal of the Jewish people. 

David wrote nearly half of them (73) before and after he was king. Psalm 8 is one of those that he wrote. It is also one of fifty psalms that marvel at God’s creation. 

When do you marvel at God’s creation?

Lord, Our Lord

Who is the LORD?

David begins and ends this short psalm with the same declaration

LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. … LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1 and 9)

David knew God by the personal name Yahweh (Hebrew, pronounced YAH-weh). In our English translations, it is usually written as LORD in all capital letters. It is the name by which God wanted to be known and worshiped by Israel. Yahweh means, “I am.” This name expressed His character as constant, dependable, and faithful. 

Following LORD, David used the phrase “our Lord” (not in all capital letters). The Hebrew word he used there refers to “master, king.” The LORD is the sovereign king over all His creation, including people David acknowledges God as his king and master over his heart and life. David’s humility recognizes God’s authority over him. 

Jesus applied God’s name “I am” to Himself (John 4:26; 8:58), thus declaring Himself to be God. The ever-faithful, promise-keeping God of the Old Testament is embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament and forever. We still have a personal God who is the king and master of our hearts and lives.

God’s name refers to His revealed character and who He is. Various translations use the words ‘majestic’, ‘magnificent’, and ‘excellent’ to describe God’s name. God’s glory is the visible expression of His greatness and worth, certainly seen in the heavens.

Even the youngest praise the LORD

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2)

Because God’s name and glory are evident all over the earth, little children praise Him with their voices. Have you noticed how small children easily love Jesus? It is as though they come out of the womb ready to love the God who made them. Yet, older more sophisticated adults often deny Him. Sadly, they are the ones who often teach the children to give up their love for God.

The praises of babies and children silence “the foe and the avenger.” The foe represents God’s enemies—those in rebellion against Him. The avenger is anyone who strikes back against God’s followers in malicious revenge. 

The Work of God’s Fingers

Eyewitness testimony

David said that God covered the heavens with His glory and majesty. In the Bible, people used the term heaven to describe three different ‘realms’—the sky, the universe, and a spiritual heaven. God’s glory and majesty are seen in all three. David focused on the universe “heavens.”

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8:3-4)

What are your thoughts when you view and consider the vastness of the heavens above you?

The heavens are the work of God’s “fingers.” God created all that we see, just as He said He did to the Jews in the book of Exodus.

And God spoke all these words … “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:1, 11)

Then the Lord said to Moses, … “for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. (Exodus 31:12, 17-18)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights … And [Moses] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:27-28)

What you just read is eyewitness testimony spoken by the eyewitness Himself. No one else was there but God. It is recorded that God spoke it three times—once to all the Jews and twice to Moses. God wrote it once with His own finger on two stone tablets He gave to Moses. After Moses broke those, he rewrote the same words on the tablet while God dictated it to him.   

Faith in God’s words 

Regarding creation, you only have two choices. Either what we see in the universe, including earth, came from God who always existed and told us about what He did. Or it came from nothing which did not exist. There are no other choices. As the song from The Sound of Music says, “Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could.“ God as Creator of the heavens and the earth is the only logical conclusion. Your response is to have faith in God’s words. 

Our God is separate from His creation and is in authority over it. His splendor exceeds that of the heavens. 

Our Significance to God

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. (Psalm 8:4-8)

Lower than God but higher than animals

When looking at the vastness of God’s realm in the heavens, what amazed David in verse 4 was that He cares for frail humans. 

what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8:4)

We tend to feel insignificant and unimportant as we glimpse the vastness and splendor of God’s creation. Yet the amazing truth is that we matter more to God than words can describe. You and I are highly significant to God! 

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:5)

God created humans to be lower than Himself but higher than the animal kingdom (verse 5). Humans did not evolve. Humans are not animals or part of the animal kingdom in God’s mind—only in human taxonomy. God created the animals separate before He created humans. You can read that distinction in Genesis 1:20-25. Yes, we share many characteristics with the animals. There is similarity of design—a physical body and conscious life. And humans are specially created in God’s image. In that, we are crowned with glory and honor. Animals were not created in God’s image and were never the recipient of God’s fellowship. 

Both man and woman were given a free will to choose fellowship with God or not. And the human spirit was created to be a container for God’s Spirit through which Adam and Eve and now you and I could enjoy fellowship with God. This spirit is the source of our inner drives for love and acceptance, a sense of identity, and for meaning and purpose in life.

Dominion over other creatures

David marveled that God gave the dominion of the earth to humans which also confirms their dignity in God’s sight. 

You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:6-8)

We seem so insignificant.  Yet God has entrusted humans with what dwells on planet earth which God so carefully fashioned. Humanity’s position at creation was above the animals from the very beginning. Everything on earth has been put under mankind’s control (Genesis 1:26-28). 

Unfortunately, our significance and importance to God are not usually the messages that we receive in our daily lives. Consider how secular teaching that we are evolved animals affects your understanding of your importance to God and your place in His world.

Those who are opposed to God as Creator would rather choose to have evolved from an amoeba than accepting the Bible’s teaching of humans being created in God’s image. So they suppress the truth about God (Romans 1:18-20).

Science belongs to God. No believer needs to be afraid of it. We should not adjust our theology based upon science or the media.  God created science and everywhere declares His glory. We may not understand everything. But there is enough evidence to support what God said He did. I am not going to tell Him He did not do it that way. True science will also provide information that agrees with what is revealed by God in the Bible about His work of creation and more.

To serve as good stewards [of this earth], we must study our world’s properties and processes in order to understand them. When Jesus said to “consider the lilies,” He was encouraging us to observe fully and learn thoroughly about the world around us. God wants people to discover everything they can about His wondrous creation. (Jeffrey Tomkins and James Johnson, Acts and Facts magazine, February 2020, page 10)

Go to icr.org to get credible scientific information and answers to your questions about God’s creation.

Ruling His Creation under His Authority

God called His creation “very good” and placed all living creatures under the rule of Adam and Eve at the beginning. He did not withdraw that responsibility after they sinned. Under His sovereignty as King, God still delegates to humans the responsibility of managing what is His—all creatures and plants. We have not done it well because of our sinfulness. Yet, we are to continually work together to do this for Him. 

The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8:4-8 in Hebrews 2:5-8. He applies the ultimate ruling over all creation to Christ. Christ is recognized as the Son of Man (a name He applied to Himself) who has dominion over the earth now and is to have dominion over the future redeemed creation. We are joint heirs with Him in this ruling over our planet. The creation is groaning because of sin (Romans 8:19-22). One day, everything will be fixed. We will still have a part in the managing of God’s creation. That day will fulfill Psalm 8:5-8.

Our God is a majestic sovereign who has remarkably entrusted His magnificent creation to frail humans who are also the capstone of His creation. Amazing! We are to willingly submit to His authority and live in dependence upon Him as we fulfill our purpose of ruling over His creation. We are not to live as puffed-up, self-reliant humans who think we are the lord of our lives. 

I love that my God is my Creator. Do you recognize Him as your Creator?

Conclusion 

Psalm 8 reveals that God is our Creator and that humans are special to God. We are not evolved animals. God is looking for a heart that declares its dependency upon Him, willing to submit to His authority and plan. We need to agree with and abide in His sovereignty. That means we choose not to live a puffed-up, self-reliant existence.

Dear reader, take some time this week to gaze at the moon and stars, a sunrise or a sunset, while reading Psalm 8 aloud. Acknowledge God’s awesomeness. Realize just how important you are to God, and spend your time thanking Him for who He is and for creating you in His image. Thank Him for giving you purpose in this life to serve Him. Ask Him to help you depend on Him more than on yourself and be His representative to others as you live each day

Read all the articles in our Psalms series. 

All of the above information is covered in our Songs of the Heart That Light My Way Bible Study covering selected psalms.

Ai was not used to generate this post.