To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David
1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained:
4 What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
5 For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field:
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!
We stand in awe of the glory of God exhibited in His creative power and His sovereign control over all of creation.
We feel a sense of awe for our magnificent Creator whose glory can be discerned by standing on earth and viewing the expanse and beauty of the universe. The second emotion we will experience as we iterate the words of this beautiful psalm is one of delight over how God conquers powerful enemies using the weak cries of nursing infants. Finally, as the ones to whom God has entrusted the care of the entire universe, we feel both honored and privileged. All of this makes us want to praise the name of our Lord.
Verse 1. As the Psalmist opens the psalm with “Oh Yahweh, our King,” we note the use of God’s personal name again, indicating that those of us who recite the psalm are in a personal relationship with God.
When the Psalmist speaks of God’s name as excellent in all the earth, he is referring to His reputation. A person’s reputation is known by the works of his hands. That is, a good businessman is known by his honest trading and quality products and services. In the same sense, we can stand on this earth, take a look around us, and right away pick up on God’s reputation by the works of His hands. If you have ever seen a beautiful painting or walked into a skyscraper, you have seen the works of the hands of men and marveled at their creativity and skill. But that is nothing to be compared with the God who created the men who make these skyscrapers. These creations do not even approach the beauty, the complexity, the magnitude, and the originality of the Creator Himself. The Psalmist then adds that the glory of God and His excellencies are even beyond what you see in the panoply of galaxies and the marvelous complexities of His creation.
Verse 2. As David muses upon the glory of God in this second verse, he brings up another deep wonder worthy of our meditation. Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in the church for Sunday worship. You hear the sounds of God’s people singing God’s praises. You listen to the powerful, moving words from the man at the pulpit, and a loud congregational “amen” at the end of the prayer. In the middle of all of this worship, you hear a five year old singing the hymn at the top of his lungs, hardly keeping to the tune everyone else is singing. You hear the cries of a nursing infant in the second row from the back of the assembly. You think to yourself, “Why are these little children interrupting this holy and sacred time of worship? What good are they doing for the kingdom of God?” This verse answers such ponderings. You see, the little baby is keeping Satan at bay. While it is doubtful the baby knows that he is contributing such to God’s kingdom’s activities, we must accept such promises by faith and never minimize any member of the church of Jesus Christ. What men consider to be of least significance, God is able to use to conquer the enemy. It is not because there is an inherent strength in babies, but only because God can, by His sovereign power, use them to accomplish mighty feats of spiritual import.
Verses 3–8. After speaking of God’s use of the weakest little ones in the church to stop the Devil in his tracks, David moves on to speak of men in general. First, he establishes perspective by asking the question: What are you in this wide expanse of a universe? If I were to take an airplane ride above the city or county where we live, people below would be just tiny specks. Flying a little higher still, a city would be just a tiny dot in the vast nation that surrounds us. Moreover, this globe would be barely discernable from the vantage point of the sun in our solar system. You would not be able to make out America from the sun. Move a little beyond our solar system, and you would not be able to see the sun either. It would be lost in galaxies of stars. Now the Psalmist asks, “Who am I, in such a gigantic universe?” Without God, we would be nothing but insignificant pieces of dust in the wind.
Our value is God-derived. That is, our value is whatever God sets on us. If God were to say that we were valueless, then we would be valueless. But we have both important value and important function in God’s great universe because He has put all things under our feet—including all life forms, the elements, and the moon and the stars. Thus, it is appropriate for man to explore the moon and asteroids from which, at some time, we might mine certain elements for our use. We are in charge of the moon and stars, the galaxies, the whales in the ocean, the mountains and elephants.
God’s use of babies to overcome His enemies and His use of men to rule over His universe shows us how God’s sovereignty controls all things to His own glory. Such ponderings produce a perspective that God’s glory is far above man’s glory, and man’s glory is derived from God’s glory.
Verse 9. David closes this psalm in a fitting way by repeating his first statement. But this time we say it with more gratefulness, as those who have been privileged to bear the glory and honor that God has placed upon us.
1. We must be a humble people, a grateful people, and a worshipful people—humble before the mighty God whose handiwork is laid out in this magnificent creation around us. Moreover, we should also be grateful that God has put such great value on us. Not only has He assigned us the task of dominion, but He has also sent His Son to bring us back into a proper relationship with Him. And we must be a worshipful people before our good and great God who is sovereign over all.
2. We must take careful dominion over God’s creation as good stewards of those things He has created. In order to do this rightly, we must approach all things according to the laws that God has laid down for us in all sixty-six books of the Bible. For example, we should eat what we take in hunting (Prov. 12:27). Of course, we should never kill innocent human life as scientists do when they experiment on stem cells from little unborn babies—even if it is for the sake of scientific enquiry. Proper dominion over God’s creation will always be conducted in obedience to the laws of God, and in recognition and fear of the Creator.
3. When we look at creation (the trees, the fish, the stars, and ourselves), we should be roused to delightful praise for the wisdom, power, and mercy of the God who is behind it all. As Christians, we know that we have value and significance even though we make up a very tiny part of creation. You are worth something because you are worth something to God who made you! It is our duty to receive this by faith and praise the glorious name of our God for it.
1. Our worship of God proceeds in response to what we know about God. We learn about God by looking at His marvelous creation. When we view a sunset, we should glory in God’s creative wisdom and beauty. When we view the moon and stars, we should glory in His creative power. When we hear little babies cooing and crying in the worship service, we should remember that God is sovereign so that He can restrain the Devil himself with the voice of a two year old. When we look at the men that God has created, we should glory in the love He has set upon us. Worship puts us in our place and puts God in His place in our minds. When this happens, we are humbled and we are exalted at the same time, because we give God all of the glory.
2. Let us include children in the worship services of our God. For He considers these little ones of great value (Matt. 21:16). Clearly, He expects them to be included in the assembly of His people when they gather for worship (Deut. 29:10–12: Josh. 8:35: 2 Chron. 20:13: Joel 2:16). Remember that it was the children that were singing their “hosannas” to Jesus on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. If Jesus tells us that “of such are the kingdom of heaven,” we ought never to bar them from the worship of our assemblies.
1. Name a Praise psalm.
2. What does the Psalmist mean when he speaks of the “name of God” as excellent?
3. Why does man have any value at all?
4. When did Jesus quote the second verse of this psalm?
5. How do we take dominion over the universe?
1. Do we appreciate the value that God has placed on each of us?
2. Do you remember the last time we looked up at the stars? Did we glorify God for His creation?
3. Why should we include tiny children in the church worship or in our family worship?