The Point God values and cares for even the weakest among us. The Passage Psalm 8:1-8 The Bible Meets Life We hire people to appraise our property. We take jewelry or antiques to an expert to get them appraised. We assign value to everything, and that value can fluctuate depending on the market or interest. What works with physical assets, though, should never be applied to people. Psalm 8 shows us we all have incredible worth and value, even those to whom society assigns little or no value. You are of great value to God. The Setting Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise, but could be more specifically called a hymn of creation. The psalm opens with praise of God as the majestic and all-powerful Creator, whose majesty fills all of His creation (vv. 1-2). The vastness of creation is then contrasted with the seeming insignificance of human beings (vv. 3-4). In light of man s insignificance, the psalmist wonders why God would take notice of people and look after them. The psalmist then marvels at how God has elevated human beings, having given them authority and dominion over all His creation (vv. 5-8). The psalm closes as it began, repeating the praise of God expressed in verse 1 (v. 9). BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 77
What does the Bible say? Psalm 8:1-8 (HCSB) Stronghold (v. 2) The Hebrew term gives the meaning of power and strength. In this context, the term speaks of God overcoming and silencing all His enemies. The son of man (v. 4) The phrase is used in common Hebrew parallelism, where the same idea is repeated using different wording. What is stated with man in the first line of the verse is restated using the son of man in the second line for emphasis. 1 Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with Your majesty. 2 Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place, 4 what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. 78 SESSION 7
THE POINT God values and cares for even the weakest among us. GET INTO THE STUDY DISCUSS: Invite your group members to turn their attention to the image at the bottom of page 61 of the Personal Study Guide (PSG). Ask: What have you owned that has gone up in value? RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 62): Most people instantly recognize the great value of gold. But what about aluminum? Randall Lawrence inherited an old desk when his father died. Because he wasn t interested in the few coins his dad had left in the desk, Lawrence sold them to a local coin dealer. Those coins included a 1974- D penny cast from aluminum, one of only a few minted in Denver in hopes of creating interest in stamping pennies from aluminum. The idea fizzled, and the coin never went into circulation. The U.S. Mint melted down all the aluminum pennies except for a few that remained unaccounted for. When the coin dealer discovered how rare this coin was, he called Lawrence and offered to split the proceeds from the sale of this one penny. Its value? $250,000. 1 10 minutes Notes TIP: Many churches observe January 17 as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. The discussion of every person s worth in God s eyes is especially appropriate on this day. SAY: Tragically, things of far greater value than an aluminum penny are overlooked daily; those things are people. Psalm 8 shows us that God s perspective on people and their inherent worth is wrapped up in His glory. GUIDE: Call the group s attention to The Point on page 62 of the PSG: God values and cares for even the weakest among us. PRAY: Transition into the Bible study by praying. Thank God for uniquely creating each person in His image, and thereby establishing our value. 1. David Lisot, Coin Week [online], February 13, 2014 [cited June 15, 2015]. Available from the Internet: http://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/discovery-coin-1974-d-aluminum-lincoln-cent-displaylong-beach-expo-video/. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 79
10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE Psalm 8:1-2 Notes 1 Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with Your majesty. 2 Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger. READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Psalm 8:1-2. RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 64): David, the psalmist, proclaimed in verse 1: Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth! And He is magnificent. His magnificence is not hidden. The planet we live on shouts this in a million wondrous ways. We see the majestic God who is behind the laws of science and physics. David wrote of the One who created all we see and sustains it by His sheer power His majestic power. ALTERNATE QUESTION: When has God done something great through those perceived as weak or helpless? DISCUSS: Question 2 on page 64 of the PSG: How do these verses speak to the sanctity the value and sacredness of human life? SUMMARIZE: The more we learn about the universe, the more we realize how it shouts of God s glory. Our Milky Way galaxy has hundreds of billions of stars, and scientists now consider it to be one of the smallest systems in the whole universe. The best instruments we have today can detect objects more than 13 billion light years from us. 2 The miniscule things in His universe also point to Him. Our DNA is made up of four chemicals, abbreviated by the letters A, T, G, and C. These chemical letters are arranged in each human cell something like this: GTATTGACTGAC. Each cell knows what to do because of the order of those letters (chemicals). That code happens to be three billion letters long in each cell. 3 2. Louie Giglio and Matt Redman, Indescribable (David C. Cook, 2011), 55 (e-book). 3. Is God Real? Every Student [online], [cited June 15, 2015]. Available from the Internet: http://www. everystudent.com/wires/godreal.html. 80 SESSION 7
THE POINT God values and cares for even the weakest among us. Psalm 8:1-2 Commentary God created us for His glory. Biblical scholars have identified several types of psalms in the Book of Psalms, including laments, thanksgivings, praises, and royal songs. Psalm 8 is clearly a psalm of praise as it describes the glory and creative power of God. Verse 1: As David wrote this song of praise, he began by making sure the singers would have no doubt about the object of their praise: they were praising Yahweh. Moses wanted to know what name for God he was to use when he told the Israelites about God s intention to free them from slavery in Egypt. Yahweh is the name God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:13 16). This name is God s covenant name and probably implies God s eternal nature. The singers of this psalm were to focus on giving praise to Yahweh, the God without beginning or end, the God who created both the world and their nation. David referred to Yahweh as Lord. The people who originally sang this song knew firsthand about kings and other rulers. They knew what earthly kings expected from their subjects. The title Lord, of course, emphasizes the power and authority of God and points to His rule as King above all kings. Those who worship and praise Him must humbly acknowledge His transcendence and majesty and reverentially submit to His lordship over them and all creation. To describe God s name as magnificent is to affirm God Himself as being magnificent. Here name is not simply a reference to God s name Yahweh but points to His total being and character. God is magnificent or glorious because of who He is and what He has done. One way the magnificence of God is revealed is through His creation of the earth. God s majesty is further revealed in the heavens, what people see as they look up from the earth. Genesis 1:14 19 describes how God created all the heavenly bodies; Genesis 2:1 summarizes all that God created: the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. Wherever people look they can see the majesty and glory of God the Creator. The apostle Paul affirmed this same truth when he wrote that God s eternal power and divine nature are clearly revealed through what He has made (Romans 1:20). Verse 2: Though God s clear revelation of His glory is evident throughout His creation (Romans 1:19 20), most people have chosen to reject the reality of God s existence and glory. Instead, the fool says in his heart, God does not exist (Psalm 14:1). Because they rejected God s revelation, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude (Romans 1:21). Once they chose to refuse the truth God has revealed through His creation, they became, in David s words, God s adversaries. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 81
10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE Psalm 8:1-2 Continued Notes DISCUSS: Question 3 on page 65 of the PSG: How is God s majesty revealed through the youngest and weakest? RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 65): Each person unborn, infant, teenager, middleaged adult, one with special needs, or elderly is a vital part of God s creation and plan, and each one brings glory to God. Unfortunately, these are also the people among us that are the most easily dismissed. Abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia are attacks on God s glory and creation. Around the world nearly 44 million abortions occur annually. 4 DO: Instruct group members to complete the activity on page 66 of the PSG on their own. If time allows, call on volunteers to share their responses. Start with Prayer: Choose one of the following groups to pray for. Write down specific things you ll commit to pray for this week. Pregnant mothers & uncertain fathers Leaders & lawmakers Companies & organizations TRANSITION: In the next verses we find out that God did more than just create humanity God gave us a specific task. 4. Sarah Jane Head, Abortion, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission [online], July 15, 2003 [cited June 15, 2015]. Available from the Internet: http://erlc.com/article/abortion. 82 SESSION 7
THE POINT God values and cares for even the weakest among us. Psalm 8:1-2 Commentary Continued David recognized that these people were not only opposed to God but also to those who trusted and worshiped Him. David called them the enemy and the avenger. Psalm 44:16 includes enemy and avenger in a list with the scorner and reviler. David and the nation of Israel often had to fight against such people. As Christians, with the revelation God has provided to us in the New Testament Scriptures, we understand that Satan (the Devil) is God s archenemy as well as our ultimate source of opposition as he tempts and attacks us. So what has God done to silence such opposition and to provide a relief for His faithful ones? David said that God has established a stronghold. The Hebrew term for stronghold has the meaning of power and strength. In this context, these speak of God overcoming and silencing all His enemies. Jeremiah used this same word to refer to God as Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress (Jeremiah 16:19). How has God silenced His enemies and provided His people with a safe haven? The answer may seem strange to our Western minds. When we seek help, we tend to look for the strongest, the richest, the smartest, the most powerful one to deliver us. God does just the opposite. He uses the ones we would consider the weakest (1 Corinthians 1:27). David said that God uses the mouths of children and nursing infants. How can such powerless persons provide strength and security? From David s view, young children represented more evidence of God s glory as Creator and Lord. Today we have the technology that allows us to see more clearly God s glory in ways David could not. We can watch the unborn child while he or she is still in a mother s body. Some women considering abortion change their minds when they see the images of the children growing inside them. These women choose life for their children because they cannot deny the glory in those images. That was exactly David s point. Even the weakest part of God s creation forcefully reminds us that God s glory already fills the world through what we can see. May His glorious name be praised forever; the whole earth is filled with His glory. Amen and amen (Psalm 72:19). Since God is so powerful and so present among us, what should we do when we are afraid? We should run to God, our strength and stronghold. The Bible also teaches us that God s glory will continue to expand throughout the earth (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14). When the children were shouting praises to Jesus and the religious leaders objected, Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 (Matthew 21:16). These children were announcing correctly that praises should be given to God s Messiah. Through the proclamation of the gospel, God s glory fills the earth in new and more powerful, more God-honoring ways. And we are looking forward to the day when a new heaven and a new earth will bring the fullness of God s glory (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1 4). BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 83
10 minutes STUDY THE BIBLE Psalm 8:3-8 Notes 3 When I observe Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You set in place, 4 what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. READ: Ask a group member to read aloud Psalm 8:3-8. ALTERNATE QUESTION: What are the consequences of remaining silent when society devalues life? ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL): To connect the idea of God s power and His purpose for each one of us, find and display several images of the heavens (the sky, sun, moon, stars, planets, and galaxies). Invite group members to share what these images reveal about God and His creation. RECAP THE PSG (PAGE 67): Since God is so majestic, David may have felt small and insignificant as he observed the universe. Verse 4 says, What is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? But David knew he was not insignificant at all in God s eyes. DISCUSS: Question 4 on page 66 of the PSG: How does a person s view of God contribute to his or her view of human life? SAY: In these verses we find that God has given us the task of stewarding His creation including each person. God created humanity to look after His people. DISCUSS: Question 5 on page 67 of the PSG: As a group, how can we demonstrate that we value life the way God does? (Leader note: Be ready to mention organizations serving individuals who are often dismissed: a crisis pregnancy center, children s home, homeless shelter, or nursing home.) TRANSITION: As the body of Christ His church we re called to value each life because every individual has been created to display God s magnitude. 84 SESSION 7
THE POINT God values and cares for even the weakest among us. Psalm 8:3-8 Commentary God crowns us with His glory. Verses 3-4: As David continued to reflect on how God s glory is revealed in His creation, he thought about what he could see in the night sky, the moon and the stars. David considered the contrast with human beings who seem so small. Verse 5: Not only does God remember and look after people, He has created human beings so as to give them special status over all the rest of His creation, a little less than God. The phrase less than God could also be translated as less than the angels. When the writer of the Book of Hebrews quoted this passage from the Greek version of the Old Testament (Hebrews 2:6-8), he used lower than the angels. That s how the Greek translation reads. The key word is the Hebrew elohim. This word was often used for God in the Hebrew version of the Old Testament. But it could also simply mean heavenly beings or angels. Regardless of the translation, the primary meaning is the same: in their position and authority, God made human beings lower than God and the angels but higher than the rest of His creation. David went on to describe man s position as that of glory and honor. In comparison to God, man is only a reflection of God s perfect glory. Genesis 1:27 says that God made the man and woman in His own image. God made human beings with that divine image so that they would reflect His glory. However, when a person is spiritually reborn, that individual is also able to reflect the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). In no way does the Scripture ever teach or imply that man is a god or can become a god. People can only reflect the glory of their Creator and the likeness of the One who recreates them when they are reborn at the moment of salvation. Verse 6: David knew that in the Genesis account of creation God had told the man and woman not only to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth but also to subdue and rule over all that He had created (Genesis 1:28). You made him lord over the works of Your hands. Of course, the man and the woman sinned and corrupted God s perfect world. Though God changed the way He related to human beings because of their sin, He did not change His command for people to have authority over all living creatures (9:2). Everything was still under his feet, under his rule and authority. God still allowed humanity to function as His stewards over creation. Verses 7-8: The lists in these verses are similar to the lists found in Genesis 1:28 and 9:2. They specify all the land animals, all the birds, and all the creatures of the sea. God s original intention for human beings was that they should exercise authority over and be good stewards of God s creation. While God clearly meant for man to understand his authority and superior worth, God also intended for people to demonstrate respect and care for both the creatures and the land itself. God s people were to use their authority to help creation maintain the harmony and productivity God had established in the beginning. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 85
5 minutes LIVE IT OUT Notes SAY: God calls us to value and care for the weak, the vulnerable, and the defenseless as He does. GUIDE: Lead group members to consider the responses to the Bible study listed on page 68 of the PSG. Memorize Psalm 8:3-4. Meditate on this passage at the beginning of each day this week, and thank God that you are uniquely and wonderfully made. Evaluate your typical week. What person or groups of people tend to be regularly undervalued or dismissed? Ask God to help you see them as He does. Be ready to demonstrate with your speech and actions how valuable they are. Get involved. As a group, volunteer with an organization actively working to help those who cannot protect or take care of themselves. Contact a local crisis pregnancy center, children s home, homeless shelter, or nursing home for a list of current needs. Wrap It Up SAY: Unlike aluminum and gold, our value doesn t change. Because we ve been uniquely created by God to bring glory to Himself, we hold immeasurable worth. We are priceless. Get expert insights on weekly studies through the Ministry Grid (MinistryGrid.com/web/BibleStudiesForLife). 86 SESSION 7