The title of this psalm reads, To the Chief Musician. On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David. It indicates the audience of the psalm (the Chief Musician), the author of the psalm (of David) and the sound of the psalm (the instrument of Gath). In this psalm David speaks of the glory of God, and how the glory of man and his destiny reflect upon God.
“The Lord’s Glory and Man’s Dignity”
Psalm Chapter 8:1-9
“God’s Glory, Human Dignity”
(For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of David.)
Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty. From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order 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 a human being that you remember him, a 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 ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!
There are three wonderful and important truths about man found in this psalm; when these truths are denied or neglected, man never is what God made him to be.
1) God made man.
2) God made man something glorious.
3) God made man for a high and worthy destiny.
All three of these principles are rooted in what God has made man; they do not exist nor are they fulfilled from the plan or work of man. That is why this glorious psalm about man is even more so a psalm about God. “The most striking feature of Psalm 8…is its description of man and his place in the created order. But the psalm does not begin by talking about man. It begins with a celebration of the surpassing majesty of God.”
Father God, I am astonished that You should love this race of fallen man so much that You purposed to become a Man and live a perfect life so that I might be saved from my sins, by faith in Jesus. Thank You for all that You have done for me, O Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth. Thank You that You are mindful of me , mindful of man. Thank You that by grace through faith in Jesus Christ we will witness the full and final restoration of man’s appointed position as Your chosen representative, through Christ’s returns from heaven to rule and reign. I thank You, praise You and give You all the glory in Jesus Precious Name Amen.
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
(Psalm 8:4)
"Only Life Changes" 