LORD, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!
You have covered the heavens with Your majesty.
Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold
from the mouths of children and nursing infants, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which You set in place, what is man that You remember him,
the son of man that You look after him?
You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet: all the sheep and oxen, as well as animals in the wild, birds of the sky, and fish of the sea passing through the currents of the seas.
LORD, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!          Psalm 8 (HCSB)
My father had big hands. He was a little over six feet tall but his hands were big. Wide and long. I can remember him changing a tire and how his hands looked so powerful turning that lug wrench. My mother’s hand was small. When they held hands, he could have held four of her hands. Her original wedding ring was bent (it was a very thin gold) and she said it was from Dad holding her hand.
I think of my father’s hands when I think of God holding an ocean or a galaxy in His hands. I think of God’s power compared to my dad’s power changing that tire. It is amazing!
And yet this passage speaks of the power of praise and worship as the place where enemies are defeated (v. 2). It is not a big sword that makes the enemy run. It is praise and worship of our LORD. The enemy can not stick around when my heart is raised in worship of my God.
Genesis 1:28 (did you read it yesterday?) tells us that it was God’s plan that we would rule over all the other creatures. And unlike the angels, God made us in His image in that we have free choice. We can choose to obey or not. Angels have no choice. The HCSB version says that God made us a little lower than Himself. Some versions say a little lower than angels. My linguist husband tells me the Hebrew is more accurately saying “Godâ€. Are you uncomfortable thinking that God made us higher than the angels? I am because I surely do not see myself as higher than angels. That’s where God sees me and only He has the right to make that judgment.
It is in God’s strength that I live where He puts me. It is only with His immense strength that I can survive each day. He is so powerful that He doesn’t have to exert His strength because He is. Paul said it best when he said that in his human, every-day weakness, God is strong (1 Corinthians 1:24, 2 Corinthians 12:10). He is Father who wants to hold His toddling child’s hand as I attempt to walk out my life. A stumble means that I let go of His hand. When I stumble, He is there to hold out His hand and bring me to my feet once again.
