Religion in the Culture

A Verse for Meditation

Torah ScrollO Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1 or Psalm 8:9 ESV 

These words envelope Psalm 8. They open the psalm. They close the psalm. Read the whole psalm and ask yourself, “Why do these words need to be repeated at the end?”

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]

  • Compare this psalm with the assertions of the book The Secret in which the author alleges that each of us can simply align ourselves with the universe and thereby compel it to give us whatever we want. How is God, the Lord of creation different from the “universe” in The Secret?
  • Secular thinkers completely dismiss the existence of any spirit, including the “universe” invoked in The Secret. Such a dismissal changes the way people see the heavens and human beings. How would you explain to a secular thinker what the psalmist sees in creation?
  • The psalmist believes that God places a high value on human beings. What is the best biblical evidence of God’s evaluation of humans? How is God’s view of humans different from that of secular thinkers?
  • People who trust the universe to bring good to their lives and people who reject the existence of spirit both reject the sovereignty of God. They don’t like the fact that God makes “rules” people must follow. They say God’s “rules” are not fair. Yet the concept of God’s sovereignty is central to the Hebrew word translated here as Lord. The NRSV begins this sentence with the words, “O Lord, our Sovereign.” Why do Christians submit to the sovereignty of God?

Enjoy the voices of a young choir singing this psalm refrain at Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h56LamYqyE

 

 

 

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Ps 8:1–9). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.