Psalm 8 is born from a sense of awe. In considering creation – the heavens, the moon, the stars – the work of God, David encounters his own smallness.

“I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?”
-Psalm 8:3-4 (MSG)

In considering his own finiteness within the grandeur of the universe David was brought to a space of worship and awe at the majesty of God and following this, was gripped with the understanding that beings as insignificant as us would be given the privileged position we have. “You put us in charge of your handcrafted world…” (v6).

The Psalm is book-ended with the point. I love the way the NRSV renders the first part of verse 1 and mirrors it in verse 9: “O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

The point is God. His bigness, His majesty, His grandeur and second to that, David’s sense of gratitude that God would be mindful of us.

It’s a nice contrast to some of the themes in the previous Psalms. Where some of the Psalms we’ve already reflected on offer cries for help amidst times of trouble and struggle, this reminds us of the grandeur of the creation we live in and the majesty of the hand that knit it together. It causes us to stop, pause and reflect on the goodness of God and the beauty that is still all around us.

Today, no matter what our circumstances are, may we be people who stop, pause and take a moment to see the beauty and grandeur of the world we live in and allow it to remind us of the brilliance of the one who crafted it and continues to craft it – the one whose name echoes around the world.

Read more of my reflections on the Psalms.

Here’s why I’m walking this journey through the Psalms.