GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 9 ~ ~ Psalm 119:1 ~ ~ “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD!”

Continuing in Chapter 8 of Michael Youssef’s book, “How to Read the Bible”

Psalms: The Songbook of the Kingdom

We’re looking at Psalm 8 – the Majestic Lord:

This Psalm of King David begins and ends with this show of praise:  “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”   When the psalmist makes the same statement at the beginning and the end, you know this is the dominant theme of the psalm.

As I read the opening verses, I suspect that King David was thinking back to an incident from his boyhood:

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the Earth!  You have set Your glory in the heavens.  Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against Your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.  (Psalm 8:1-2).

How does praise for God from the lips of children “establish a stronghold” and silence mortal enemies?  I picture David thinking back to a scene from 1 Samuel 17, when King Saul and the Israelites squared off against the Philistine army across the Valley of Elah.

A Philistine champion, a giant named Goliath, strode out, mocking God and daring Israel to risk its fate on the outcome of a duel to the death.  King Saul should have accepted the challenge, but he was afraid.

So God sent David, a young shepherd boy armed only with a leather sling and five smooth stones from a nearby brook.  And this mere boy stood before Goliath and gave praise to God:

“But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. …..so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will hand you over to us!” (1 Samuel 17:45-47).

Then David, empowered by the Spirit of God, did exactly as he had promised.  He whirled the sling, let the stone fly, and it buried itself in Goliath’s forehead.  The giant fell dead.  The foe was silenced.  The Philistines fled.  The stronghold of Israel was established.

What giants do you face today?  What enemies render you ineffective for the Kingdom?  When David cut off Goliath’s head, he used the giant’s own sword.  When you face your own giants by God’s might, He’ll enable you to turn the enemy’s own weapons against him.

The combat between David and Goliath was a genuine historical event, but it also had great symbolic meaning.  This battle symbolizes the cosmic struggle between the Lord Jesus and Satan – a struggle going back to the Garden of Eden.  David the shepherd boy foreshadows Jesus, our Good Shepherd.  Goliath represents Satan – and all the giants we face in life.

Satan sends giants into our lives to intimidate us and neutralize us.  We can either be like King Saul, quaking in fear, paralyzed with indecision – or we can step up like David, praising God and facing our giants with faith and courage.  Our shout of victory is, “The battle is the Lord’s!” (I like to think that when the stone struck Goliath’s forehead, David shouted, “TIMBER!!!”)  The battle was won before Goliath’s body hit the ground.

I believe David was mentally reliving God’s victory over Goliath as he penned the first two verses of Psalm 8.  Then he went on to write:

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that You are mindful of them, human beings that You care for them?  You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.  You made them rulers over the works of your hands; You put everything under their feet:  all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.  Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”  (Psalm 8:3-9)

David understood that God’s surpassing might and majesty is the secret to victory.  When you feel discouraged, fearful, or defeated, call upon the name of the Lord.  David reminds us of the power and wisdom behind that name.  It’s the power and wisdom that set the moon and stars in place.

Step outside on a clear night and look at the moon and Milky Way.  What you will see is majestic beyond human imagination – yet it is only a faint reflection of the real glory of God.  If we could glimpse, even for a brief moment, God’s full glory in heaven, we’d see how inadequate our mere words of praise are.

David also understood the sobering measurement of man.  “What is mankind that You are mindful of the, human beings that You care for them?”  David compares the billions of stars in the vastness of space with his own miniscule size, and he marvels that God even notices the human race at all.  Earth is an insignificant speck in the vast ocean of the cosmos.  Yet, David says of us:

“You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.  You made them rulers over the works of your hands; You put everything under their feet.”

God has crowned the human race with glory by making us in His image.  He has put us in charge of the earth and its living creatures.

You are significant to God.  When you hurt, He hurts with you.  When you achieve some task or victory in His name, He rejoices with you.  When you pray, He listens – and He answers prayer.  He cares for you.

Secularists take the view that human beings are nothing more than evolved anthropoid apes.  The secularists would say, “Evolution has made human beings a little higher than the chimpanzees.” But David does not compare humans to beasts; he recognizes that God has made us not a little higher than beasts, but “a little lower than the angels.”

Beasts have bodies, but no spirits.  Angels are spirits without bodies.  Human beings are the only creatures in God’s creation that have both bodies and spirits.  We are a little lower than the heavenly beings – but we are not to be confused with any category of mere beasts.  In eternity, we will receive a privilege that, before now, only the angels have known – the privilege of seeing God face to face.  In that day, we will fully reflect the image of God. 

It’s high noon for humanity, and two forces face off across the valley.  On one side is the faithful remnant who follow the Lord Jesus.  On the other side is the “Philistine army” of this hateful anti-God world – our enemies and foes.  The Goliaths of this dying world have challenged us to mortal combat.

It’s time to call upon the powers of Heaven.  It’s time to humble ourselves before God in prayer.  It’s time to stop living with one foot in the world and one foot in Heaven. If you put your faith in Jesus, if you risk everything for His Kingdom, if you live your life in obedience to His will, then you will one day rule and reign with the King of Kings.

Lord Jesus, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

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Exodus 14:14

The Lord will fight for you, while you keep silent.”

Deuteronomy 3:22

Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the One fighting for you.’

Romans 10:9&10

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 14:8

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord:  whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s

Psalm 86:5

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,

And abundant in mercy to all who call upon You.

Isaiah 50:7                                                                                                        

For the Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded:  therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

Mark 12:30

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment.

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