HOW MAJESTIC AND NEAR GOD IS

 

Psalm 8:1-9

We live in a very complex planet that is part of an amazing universe. Think about for a moment........ The universe is massive and amazing! There is an estimation of over 350 billion galaxies (that’s a conservative estimation by the way). To help us appreciate the scale of that universe: “If the Milky Way galaxy were the size of the entire continent of North America, our solar system would fit in a coffee cup.”

How amazing is that? And these amazing facts began when the Scripture revealed the majesty and transcendent power of God. “In the beginning God” Gen 1:1. This explosive opening displays God’s infinite wisdom and providential plan made this planet we call home to be a sustainable environment for humans.....animals, insects, plant life. And also have a sufficient amount of resources to sustain humanity for thousands of centuries. God has prepared this small planet for one special purpose! And that is a place that displays the glory of His majesty and awesomeness. To display the love and grace of God towards rebellious sinners who would not be satisfied with what God provided us with. By definition “excellence” means great virtue or worth; important or distinguished for what is agreeable, valuable or praiseworthy.....it’s also a word that speaks of someone who is courageous, glorious or mighty. God is…. every bit of those examples and so much more! That’s why I love the Psalms.

 

Steve Lawson wrote in the “Expositor” magazine this profound truth about the Psalms. “As the expositor opens the book of Psalms, he is like a mountain climber poised at the base of a snow-capped summit, ready to scale its towering heights. With each individual psalm, there is a steep ascent upward into the heights of heaven, up to the throne of God. The Psalter rises high above the landscape of Scripture, transcendent in its beauty and magnificent in its grandeur. As the longest book in the Bible, it is, quite frankly, the Mount Everest of Scripture.”

 

This Psalm is rich and worthy to climb as we scale Mount Everest to promises and riches of the glory and grace of God. This Psalm rehearses how great God is in His character and how God in involved in our world. The whole spirit of this psalm is abounding with doxology and reverence. Just as we sing “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost”. David opens this psalm with a doxology as he pens these awesome words in the opening statement about our great God. (v1)

 

Let’s slow it down and look at his opening remarks! (v1a) “LORD” which is Jehovah (Yahweh) and “Lord” which is Adonai, this literally means “O Jehovah, (sovereign transcendent God) our Adonai (our personal and close God). This praise of the Lord recognises a glory that transcends not only on earth, but also in heaven. This Psalm is an “Enthronement psalm” which means this psalm celebrates God’s sovereign Kingship over all the earth. This is the Eternal God who universally reigns over everything and it’s this truth we in turn worship Him in all His Kingly glory. He is the beginning and the end of creation; this expresses the eternal ownership of God’s glory towards His creation. It’s interesting to note from a commentary I have it says “In the later ages of Israel the Jewish people considered the name Jehovah to be so sacred that they would not pronounce it. So when they came to it in their reading of the Old Testament, as here, for example, they would say “Adonai” instead. In fact, when the Masoretes came in time to provide vowel pointing for consonantal Hebrew text, they wrote the vowels for “Adonia” whenever the name Jehovah occurred, as a reminder of what should be said. So when he read this verse, the pious Jew would say, “O Adonia, our Adonia,” meaning “Lord, Lord” His name is so great the early Jews handled it with great care and concern and same should be true of us in the church age.

 

This is majestic name was expressed when Jesus was arrested. “Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, "Whom do you seek?" They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am he." ….When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.” John 18:4-6. Matthew Poole wrote in his commentary, “He had only asked them whom they looked for; and hearing that it was for him, told them he was the man: they are struck with a terror, and instead of apprehending him, start from him, and fall down to the ground. If there were so much majesty in and such an effect of the voice of Christ in one of the lowest acts of his humiliation, what will the voice of a glorified Christ be to sinners, when he shall return as a Judge to condemn the world! And what will the effect of that be upon his enemies!”

See! God isn’t......... 

The big guy in the sky

The man upstairs

The big cheese

The big teddy bear in sky

Your personal genie in a bottle

The Big Kahuna

 

He is… THE ALMIGHTY GOD and David, proclaims this wonderful truth in this Psalm about the majesty to His sovereignty and glory.

Two amazing and powerful titles, which describes the

authority and majesty of our great God.

 

David says His name alone is so powerful and excellent, even the highest of Heavens cannot contain Him (v1b). God is so excellent that creation cannot exhaust the glory of God! James Boice said, “Even when creation expresses His glory, revealing His existence, wisdom, and great power as well as other attributes, it’s only a partial revelation of the surpassingly greater God who stands behind it.” R C Sproul said, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their significance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.” We sit here or stand in this place to display the glory of His splendour and excellence! And that’s only a partial revelation of the surpassingly greater God who stands behind it.” This is the privilege and highest honor that we have to come and fellowship together. God is so infinitely bigger in comparison to us and even David, or Solomon, in all their kingly glory! That’s why David penned these next words. (v3). When Julie and first were married we lived right in downtown Toronto. It was definitely and experience to say the least, the bright lights, sounds and smells at time. But! There is something you overlook or never really consider when you live in the city! And that is what David says in this portion of his letter! (v3) “Your Heavens”.......”the works of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained,”

 

When was the last time you looked

up with amazement?

David says, “They are your heavens.” What is David saying? They do not belong to themselves; they are not simply a part of space. They are yours, O Lord! They are yours by right of creation. Your fingers made them. David uses this anthropomorphism to remind us that the Lord is a personal God, and that He was intimately involved in the creation of the moon and the stars. He set them in place. He designed them, and so you would expect to see evidences of His handiwork everywhere, and we do. Think about how majestic our God is! The rate of the earth’s rotation is exactly right. If it were a tenth of the present rate, plant life would burn during the day and freeze at night. If it were faster, wind velocities would rise to catastrophic levels. David’s son Solomon realized how great and excellent God is, when He compared his life to Him. "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” 1 King 8:27. When you live under bright city lights, when you have a busy lifestyle, or focused so much on self, we tend to forget these simple displays of God and His awesomeness. I can remember living in Manitoba and seeing the beauty and glow of the Northern Lights, because night is night when you live 3 hours north of Winnipeg. This was something we didn’t see at all when we lived in the city, you knew the stars are there, but the city lights camouflage the beauty of the stars and the radiance of God.

 

But when you stand outside in complete darkness

you begin to see how big God really is.

 

The billions of stars that He has put in place for His excellent name. The glows of the Northern Lights are for us to praise Him for whom He is. When you read a Psalm like this… I can picture David as a young shepherd boy sitting in the valleys at night watching over his sheep as he pens these words. Or him as King sitting in high tower looking up to the Heavens as he prays to God to for wisdom and strength to lead His people for God’s glory. This must be true of you and me! We need this reminder of His excellent greatness every day. We need…. to take the time to ponder and look up to the sky and see a MIGHTY God who sustains everything in their rightful place as the great God He is. We need…. to slow down and soak in some of the simplest of things that God has put in place to display Himself to you and me. And to not be so distracted with things that have no Kingdom value on this earth. We need…. to stop being busy all the time and stop once in awhile and ponder these wonderful truths about the God we serve.

In an Article I read this week on my holidays titled “Pastor, When You Want to Quit, Preach to Yourself” The writer was going through ways to endure these days and one of the points was to slow down and patiently endure and continue. Why would he say that? Because we are all busy, our calendars are full and it may not be for the right reasons. He said, “We hear the refrain “I’m great, just busy” so often we assume pathological busyness is okay. After all, everybody else is busy too. But what if busyness isn’t healthy? What if it’s an airborne infection, wreaking havoc on our collective soul?” This psalm is a great reminder that we are to slow down and ponder the truth about God’s excellent greatness; and that our busyness may be keeping us from seeing how close and great God really is. We need to be more like David and settle our hearts under the weight of His majesty, and not under the weight of this present world system. We should look to the Heavens and be thinking about the same things that amazed, a young David, in this Psalm. We should be reminded that God isn’t some distant deity or a god created in our minds that we can control.

 

He is a God who is near and very involved in His creation and most of all in His created children. Jeremiah reminded his readers of this truth, "Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? Declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? Declares the LORD.” Jer 23:23-24. Everything in this universe is in its rightful place.......He has ordained it that way. This means “everything is placed in its exact unalterable order.” (v3). In this great big complex universe God is mindful of all your sorrows and cares. (THE SORROWS IN PUBLIC AND THE TEARS IN PRIVATE)

 

“mindful of me and You care for me” (v4) God is so awesome and near, it amazes me that He even considers this wretched sinner such as me. That’s how excellent His name is; and that God would be “mindful” of you and me in His plan for the creation order. (v5-v9) “ Mindful “ means to be recognized, recount, record, remember, and make to be remembered. God who created this universe with great detail would look at man and say, “I give you a crown of glory and honor to subdue this earth.” (v6). What does that mean? Man as the crown of creation rules over the world that God has made. This is an effective way of identifying man with God and saying that he has been made in God’s image, which reflects God’s glory. Not only are we crowned with glory and honors were to exercise dominion over the rest of creation. Man’s doxology, “O LORD how majestic is Your name in all of the earth”

 

Think about this for a moment: God has given angels spirits but no bodies, and He has given animals bodies but no spirit,.......Man He has given both body and spirit. David wrote “he made him a little lower than angels (or “Elohim” has made”, as some versions put it” (v5) Why didn’t He make us higher or equal with angels or Himself? The obvious answer is that God knows we are a fallen race that seeks after to be God. Take Nebuchadnezzar for moment! Here is a man who turned his back on God because he wanted to be like God. In Dan 4:30 we read this about the arrogance of this foolish king, “and the king answered and said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" This is a classic statement that speaks of many people today who are made into the image and likeness of God. We call this secular humanism. Secular Humanism is a secular philosophy that espouses human reason, ethics, and justice, and the search for human fulfillment. It specifically rejects religious dogma, supernaturalism, as the basis of morality and decision-making. Which basically means “It’s all about us....the selfish me factor! I get the glory, so forget God! What was the outcome for King Nebuchadnezzar as these words were still on his lips? “While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, "O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will." Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.” Dan 4:31-33

 

Secular Humanism leads to a life of disappointment and destruction in the end. David chose to do the opposite and reflect on the One who gets the glory in and through his life. It is very careless to minimize God, or put Him on the same playing field with all the other false gods, or the image of man. David reflected on the majesty of His providential plan and grace to mankind (His special creation). (v3-v4)

We are all like little ants in this vast universe! But God in all His glory is ever mindful of you, and me, as He has placed us as extremely important to Him. He is a God who is near, not a God who is a far off, or some made up deity to sooth our conscience.  “He is LORD, our Lord” (v1). This is the God who sores over us in all His glory and we are lacking nothing. “And He said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing." Luke 22:35. God is majestic that He created you, and given us, dominion on the earth. And He “made him/us, lower than heavenly beings” (v5-v8) This majestic God displayed His love over you and me by sending His only Son to display that lowliness in its truest and perfect form because by nature we were not satisfied with that. “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Phil 2:6-8

 

God loves us so much that He lowered Himself before His creation to display that love for fallen sinners like you and me. He didn’t have to do it! But He chose to do it on behave of sinful man and woman…that’s the gospel truth! And when I think of what Jesus did for me I’m forever humbled by this statement, “What is man that You are mindful of him” This psalm calls us to remember and rejoice in God’s magnificent and beautiful work of creation. This psalm calls us to remember our intended role in creation. This psalm calls us to ponder the Christ that became the true image for us and that our response to Him is praise. God in all His glory gave us a special blessing by creating us to worship Him....to tell the world of His excellent name as our mighty God! That’s why David repeats himself as he ponders this great love that God has for sinners like us! 

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is 

your name in all the earth!” (v9)