Psalm 8 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 8 on biblegateway.com
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
Sometimes I wonder what God the Creator was thinking in giving us dominion over all other creatures. Dominion in the true Hebrew sense means “to care for.” Unfortunately, humans have sometimes taken it as “control over,” stealing the dignity of the other creatures of earth, sky, and sea. We have forgotten that God was and is in control.
When we reread, “How majestic is your name in all the earth,” we pause. If we are truthful with ourselves, all creation is divine. All creatures come from the Potter’s clay. And God seeks out the lowly, the innocent, those who cannot speak, the infant. God shows that point, coming as an infant and being born of one of the least of humans at that time, a young woman of no status, no power. That is the essence and uniqueness of our triune God—a baby, a blameless human. The Trinity is also that Spirit stirring in and among us with eternal, divine, and unending love.
Prayer
Majestic God: What are human beings that you are mindful of them? We pray that you guide us in caring for all creation through your gift of love. Forgive us when we do not see all your creation as divinely created, and help us be caring and loving as you have called us to be. In your majestic name. Amen.