The Song Of The Astronomer

Lessons From The Psalms  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction

Greetings…
Theme: Lessons From The Psalms.
Hope: To draw closer to God emotionally through this study.
Today we will be turning our attention to Psalm 8, a written by King David and inspired by God, naturally.
It is thought that David was inspired to write this psalm while looking up at the sky and so the title for this evening’s lesson is “The Song Of The Astronomer.”
A title coined by Spurgeon.
So, with that in mind let’s examine our lesson this evening.
As David looked up to the sky he could help but recognize…

God’s Majesty In Creation

His Name And Glory.

David was so awe struck at the heavens he was looking at, that God’s name alone invokes majesty and glory in his mind.
Psalm 8:1 ESV
1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
Psalm 148:13 ESV
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.
Isaiah 12:4 ESV
4 And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.
Have you ever looked at God’s creation and simply been in awe?
If you’ve seen an eagle sore across the heavens or witness the overwhelming reality of live birth.
If you’ve ever climbed a large hill or mountain and looked out across God’s vast horizon.
Or looked up and tried to count the stars.
Then you know why David couldn’t help but say, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
David, after admitting how beautiful his God is then speaks on…

His Power Over Enemies.

Have you ever heard, or maybe you were a part of, the common saying young boys can be heard telling each other…
“My dad is stronger than your dad” and if it got really heated “my dad can beat you dad up.”
This wasn’t said necessarily because the two kids were wanting their dads to fight but simply because most little boys can’t think of anyone stronger and more powerful than “dad.”
Now “King David” is looking up at the heavens, maybe in the daytime but seems to be at night, and marvelling at what he is seeing and then it hits him.
My God, my father, is so powerful that he could make babies, the frailest and weakest of men, silence his enemies.
Psalm 8:2 ESV
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
Now you and I have read this very reality before haven’t we whether it was with Moses & Aaron defeating pharaoh or Gideon and a handful of men defeating a nation we have read of this reality.
God has always made the righteous that have often appeared “weak” or that have seem to “lack wisdom” powerful and wise.
Isaiah 40:29 ESV
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
1 Corinthians 1:27 ESV
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

Summary

As David took a moment to appreciate God’s creation and and recognize God’s mighty power he makes another observation.
It hits him like I’m sure it has hit all of us that have contemplated these truths before.
What other observation did he have?
Well it had to do with…

Man’s Rank Based On Creation

Man’s Insignificance.

What did “King David” realize, he realized man’s insignificance, in comparison to the grandness of God’s beauty and power.
Psalm 8:3–4 ESV
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Now during David’s time and for centuries after man has tried to contemplate the vastness of the universe.
People, over the years, have estimated there were anywhere from 1,000 to 26 septillian stars and the truth of the matter is, the more we learn about our universe the bigger it always gets.
Considering God, not only created such a universe but even “named” each star (Psalm 147:4), no wonder David felt so small at this very moment.
And yet, though man seems so seemly minor in creation and insignificant, David could not help but see…

Man’s Exaltation.

You can almost hear the wheels turning in David’s head, so to speak, asking himself, “how can man be exalt above any other part of creation, and yet this obviously is true.”
Psalm 8:5–8 ESV
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
Job recognized the thing when he thought…
Job 7:17 (ESV)
17 What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him
Once again the reasoning for this is clear, God loves us.
Though we have warts, faults, and mind-numbing brain lapses spiritually speaking our Creator still loves us.
Psalm 91:14–15 ESV
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
David like each of us know the struggles of living righteous lives.
I mean even the apostle Paul talks about the mental fight between doing what he knew was right and what his frail fleshly self wanted to do (Romans 7:15-21).
David, trying to balance this mentally simply stops and realizes…

Man’s Only Response.

There really is only “one” thing to say when trying to understand or figure out why a God who is so magnificent, wonderful, and perfect could love us whom are so sordid, lousy, and imperfect.
Psalm 8:9 ESV
9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
There is only one response and that is to point to how wonderfully blessed we are to have a God like we do and bow down and worship him.
Psalm 138:2 ESV
2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
Because it has nothing to do with us, the creation, but him who created us.
Psalm 115:1 ESV
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

Summary

Though we deserve to be considered “insignificant” in the grand scheme of things our God thankfully does not see it that way.
No, when he created Adam and Eve, in his image, he saw that it was “very good.”

Conclusion

So the next time you go outside and gaze up at the clouds in the bright blue sky or when you watch the stars twinkle in the night remember your creator and honor him with your lips by proclaiming…
“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”
Invitation
Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Philippians 2:6–7 ESV
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Romans 10:17 ESV
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Hebrews 11:6 ESV
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Acts 17:30 ESV
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
Matthew 10:32 NKJV
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
2 Thessalonians 1:8 ESV
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Romans 6:3–5 ESV
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
1 John 1:7 ESV
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
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