Psalm 8 (NRSV)
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Verse 1O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
Verse 2Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
Verse 3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;
Verse 4what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
Verse 5Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
Verse 6You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,
Verse 7all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
Verse 8the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Verse 9O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Devotion
Who am I? It’s a question we all ask numerous times in our lives. When I traveled to Myanmar this past summer, I heard the story of how one teenage girl discovered who she was. Ok Sin grew up in rural northern, Myanmar where education was non-existent. She ventured far south to Yangon, where an adoptive family housed her while she went to school. Like most of these families, they overworked Ok Sin. Missing multiple days of school each week, she fell behind and when she failed her government exams she concluded she was too stupid to learn. Now Ok Sin lives at a Christian youth center, where she is valued, cared for and receives tutoring. She is learning who she is and that she has a purpose in this world.
No matter how we or others answer the question of who we are, of one answer we can be most certain. We are holy and treasured children of the Triune God: Heavenly Parent, Savior Jesus and Sustaining Spirit. We are redeemed and transformed, prized possessions of a jealous God.
Prayer
Awesome and majestic God, we are humbled and delighted that you call us by name and define us not by what we do, but by how much you love us. Calm our anxious minds and bind up our wounded hearts when we label ourselves by what we have done or by who others claim we are. We belong wholly and completely to you, O God, because of your son, Jesus, Amen.