By Donna Rude
Psalm 8 is written by David, and in my Bible it is titled, “The Glory of the LORD in Creation”. I love that!! The Glory of the LORD in creation! I want to open with a poem by Gabriele Embry:
I look around, and everywhere I can see,
The beauty of God's Creation smiling back at me.
A precious baby with velvety soft skin,
Wiggling its tiny hands and feet,
On its face an adorable grin.
First morning dew on a pink rose;
A beautiful butterfly drawing to it close.
The sun's golden rays gently warming the ground;
Luscious plants covering the soil abound.
Humming birds singing high up in the tree;
White sand glistening in the turquoise sea.
Snowcapped mountains, so majestically high;
A colorful rainbow adorning the afternoon sky.
Countless stars above, sparkling oh so bright,
Decorating the horizon and illuminating the night.
Thank you, Dear Lord, for giving me another day, To enjoy the beauty of Your Creation, And to worship You and pray.
Psalm 8 NKJ: O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of Him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands, You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, that pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth.
In this Psalm there are 2 pressing questions for believers:
1. Who is God?
2. What does He think about human beings?
Let’s jump into the first question: Who is God??
For the sake of time, I am going to present God as though we all believe that God is the existence of all things. That in the beginning, God…..and leave it at that and not go into His Deity, or we could be here all day.
I sat down on Saturday, Sept 9th to work on this study. It was the day Hurricane Irma was to hit Florida. The night before I watched an excellent selfie short video of Kirk Cameron at the Orlando airport. He gave his thoughts on the hurricanes that we have been having. Did anyone here see it??
He skipped meteorologist’s explanations and cited a passage in the Old Testament Book of Job that describes storms as either being created by God for “punishment” or a means to “demonstrate his faithful love.”
He went on to say: When he puts his power on display, it’s never without reason. There’s a purpose. And we may not always understand what that purpose is, but we know it’s not random and we know that weather is sent to cause us to respond to God in humility, awe and repentance.
Now this topic can be a bible study on its own, but I want to focus on the Magnificence of God.
With our recent hurricanes, Harvey in Texas, Irma in Florida, and this morning Maria in The Caribbean, I could not help myself but to be drawn to Job. And to hear the reminder of what Job’s friend, Elihu, had to say about whom God is and of his great power.
Let's read Job 36:22- 37:14
Behold, God is exalted in His power; who teaches like Him? Who has appointed Him His way; or who can say, You have done wrong? Remember that you magnify His work of which men have sung; every man has seen it; man may see it afar off. Behold, God is great, and we do not know; the number of His years cannot be searched out. For He draws up the drops of water; they distill rain into mist, which the clouds pour down and drop on man plentifully. Also can any understand the spreading of the clouds, or the crashing of His canopy? Behold, He spreads His light on it, and He covers the bottom of the sea. For by them He judges the people; He gives plenty of food. He covers His hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark; its thunder declares concerning Him, and the cattle, concerning what is coming. My heart trembles at this also, and it leaps out of its place. Listen carefully to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes out of His mouth. He loosens it under the whole heavens, and His lightning to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He will not hold them when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things, and we do not understand. For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth; also to the shower of rain, and to the shower of heavy rains in its strength. He seals up the hand of every man, so that all men may know His work. Then the beast goes into its lair, and it remains in its dens. Out of the storeroom comes the tempest; and cold from scattering winds. By the breath of God ice is given; and the expanse of waters is frozen tight. Also He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters the lightning cloud, and it is turned around by His guidance, so that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the world in the earth. Whether as a whip, or for His land, or for mercy, He finds it. Listen to this, Job; stand still, and consider the wonderful works of God.
***So let’s do that…stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God . . .
When was the last time something in creation took your breath away because of its majesty? Was it a nighttime sky show, such as a lunar eclipse, meteor shower, or a solar eclipse like the one that we recently had. Or was it merely walking outside on a starry night to see Orion, Pleiades, or the Milky Way. How many of You have been to Alaska and seen with your own eyes and experienced the spectacular light display of Arora borealis, or the bursting dawn that radiates with glorious colors to signal another sunrise.
What did you think about when you hear the sound and see the light show that accompanies God’s way of watering the earth?
I believe it was D.L Moody who would stand, raise up his arms and applaud the sound of thunder during a thunderstorm. Praising His God in heaven for His mighty display for all to see.
Have you ever took great notice of a snow flake and how each one of the billions that have fallen from the sky is unique in its kind. It is said, that no 2 snowflakes are alike. Have you ever pondered our bodies, how they are perfectly made. Each part has its own function. Or how we have a timer inside of us that during pregnancy tells that our 40 weeks are up by the onset of the birth of a child.
I love to look at the different types of flowers of the world in their perfect symmetric order.
God askes Job some questions…Have you stood by a fence and marveled at the power of a horse as it gallops gallantly through the field, mane flowing and hoofs pounding? (Job 39:19-25). Or watched a soaring, swooping eagle drop from the sky because his God-designed vision has sighted his dinner from his mountain-peak nest? (39:27-30). My husband and I were just pondering the wonders of God the other day. He is getting into wood working and loves all the different kinds of wood God has made, from the dark woods of walnut, ebony to the lighter woods like pine, maple and ash.
I stand in awe thinking He could have made all trees the same, all flowers the same, all people the same, but he chose not to. Rather He chose to make them all different to display his glory and for us to enjoy.
What are some things in creation that make you stand in awe of Him?
David in Psalm 19:1-6 NLT wrote: The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak, night after night they make him know. They speak without a sound or work, their voice is never heard, yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun, it burst forth like a radiant bridegroom after its wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. Sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end.
That is why Paul goes on to say in Romans 1:20 NKJ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse!
Abraham Lincoln once said: “I never behold, the heavens filled with stars, that I do not feel I am looking in the face of God. I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up, into the heavens and say there is no God.”
For The heavens declare the glory of God, and I am so thankful for people who have the gifting of words, to describe how I feel.
A poem by Lora Cox:
Some people never look and see
The miracles in the sky,
The magnificence of a sunrise
Or fleecy clouds drifting by.
They miss the glory of a sunset,
The lovely rainbow hues
And what could have more splendor
Than a starry night to view.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
And I thank you Lord for eyes to see
All the beauty and the wonder
You placed in the sky for me.
I stand in awe of your presence
As I gaze at the marvels you display
For no human hand could ever form
Such a grand and glorious array.
No artist’s brush could ever paint
All the beauty that I see.
No poet’s words could ever describe
What that beauty means to me.
As I dove in this study, I couldn’t help but think that apart from knowing God, we have no understanding of what is going on in the world! With these hurricanes, some see our wild weather as being due to “climate change”, but we as believers, our eyes have been opened to the big real picture. I came across a story that illustrates this well…
Rose Crawford had been blind for 50 years. Then she had an operation. When the doctor took the bandages from her eyes she said, “I just can’t believe it.” She wept. For the 1st time in her life she could actually see. And what she saw was a dazzling and beautiful world of form and color. The amazing thing about her story was that 20 years of her blindness was unnecessary. She didn’t know that surgical techniques had been developed and that an operation could have restored her vision at the age of 30.
Her doctor said, “She just figured there was nothing that could be done for her condition. Much of her life could have been different.”
The Bible tells us that without Jesus people live their lives in spiritual darkness. But Jesus said, “You don’t have to live like that…I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." You know…the more we know about God, the more we appreciate God, the more we appreciate God, the deeper our worship, the deeper our worship the more God is glorified.
We can glorify God in so many different ways. But one way is agreeing with scripture on everything God has to say about Himself. Let’s read some of them in the NLT
Isaiah 42:5 God declares, “God, the LORD, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth.” Amen??
Revelation 21:6 “I am the Alpha and the Omega-the Beginning and the End. “ Amen??
John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Amen??
Paul tells us about God in Colossians. Let’s glorify God together by agreeing.
Colossians 1:16 “For through him God created everything. In the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see-such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.” Amen??
The Psalmists goes on to tell who God is. Let’s glorify God together by agreeing.
Psalm 103:19 “The Lord has made the heavens his throne, from there he rules over everything.” Amen??
