Wisdom Books Psalms

God Cares for Us

Discover Jesus as: King of Glory Psalms 7-9 Read on Bible Gateway (HCSB)

Day 396 of 730
Downloads

Lesson

Watch on YouTube

Audio Only

Teaching Notes

INTRO

This is kind of refreshing—we’re not in Job! We’re trying to look at the whole context of the book of Psalms in order to get a better understanding of the Messiah. There are at least seven authors in Psalms. Some of the authors include David, Moses, Solomon, and the sons of Korah. At least 50 psalms are anonymous. One of the purposes of the psalms was they were sung during different events of life—songs of praise, ascent, lament, joy, and love. We are going to look at Psalm 8, which starts with directions from David for the choirmaster. The song was to be played on a Gittith, which has been described as a guitar- like harp.1

About Psalm 8, commentary writer James Johnston wrote, “Yahweh reveals His majesty in this world by using weak people to do His great work. God reveals His majesty by defeating His enemies through the weakness of children.”2

TEACHING

Psalm 8:1–2: Verses 1–2 focus on God’s creation of mankind. Verse 1 references God with two titles—“Yahweh” and “our Lord.” “Yahweh” refers to “the covenant keeping God of Israel,” while “the Lord” is based on the Hebrew name Adonai and refers to “the sovereign over all His creation, including His people.”3 David was building his case. He was complimenting the Lord.

Jesus also talked about this idea of God working through children in the New Testament (Matthew 21:16). Constable wrote, “Even the weakest human beings praise their Creator!”4 God can use children to silence the enemy! Wiersbe gives examples of children or the weak being used by God, writing, “The cry of baby Moses ultimately brought Egypt to her knees, and the birth of Samuel was used by God to save Israel and bring David to the throne.David himself was but a youth when he silenced Goliath and defeated him (1 Samuel 17:33, 42–43). God has used the weak and helpless to praise Him and help defeat His enemies.”5

Psalm 8:3–4: Verses 3–4 focus on how God cares for us. “If the whole universe is diminutive [extremely small] in the sight of the divine creator, how much less is the significance of mankind!”6 Regardless of the size of the universe God cares about mankind. He created us.

Psalm 8:5–8: Verses 5–8 focus on how God crowns us in His own image. It is crazy to think that God would even use us, isn’t it? He crowns us with glory and honor to do His work (Job 7:17; 25:6; Psalm 144:3-4). Despite our weakness, God thinks about us, uses us, and loves us.

Ron Forseth noticed that throughout Scripture, the people God used were broken and a little dysfunctional. Forseth wrote, “We talk about ‘great lives’ in the Bible—and there are many of them—but the thing that amazes me is how many of those ‘great lives’ were actually lived by damaged people with serious family issues.”7 I want us to look at the names Forseth studied.

  • Adam (Genesis 3:12)
  • Eve (Genesis 3:6)
  • Cain (Genesis 4:8)
  • Noah (Genesis 9:20–21)
  • Abraham (Genesis 12, 20)
  • Sarah (Genesis 16)
  • Lot (Genesis 18-20)

Job (Job 2:9)

Isaac (Genesis 26)

Rebekah (Genesis 27)

Jacob (Genesis 25, 27, 30)

Rachel (Genesis 31:19)

Reuben (Genesis 35:21)

Moses (Exodus 2; 32:19; Numbers 20:11)

Aaron (Exodus 32)

Miriam (Numbers 12)

Samson (Judges 16)

Eli (1 Samuel 2, 4)

Saul (1 Samuel 16, 18, 19, 31)

David (2 Samuel 11)

Solomon (1 Kings 11)8

These were the people that God used to make a difference! We elevate people we’ve learned about in Scripture but fail to realize that they were messes just like us. Why are we reading this list? Because this was what David had been talking about. God used all of these people, despite their weakness, because God wanted them to be over His land. God uses us despite our weaknesses.

Constable explains, “God made man a little lower than Himself, in His own image that no other created beings bear. . . God has crowned man with glory and majesty by giving him the authority to rule over creation as His agent . . . Jesus Christ, last Adam will fulfill mankind’s destiny when He returns to earth and brings all creation under His control”9 (1 Corinthians 15:27–28). Until then, this should be our perspective: we are to be broken pots that allow the light of Christ to shine through us.

Psalm 8:9: Even as a broken vessel, when Christ is working in us, anything is possible. Constable pointed out, “Man has even tamed and even domesticated many kinds of animals, but he finds it impossible to control himself without divine assistance.”10

CLOSING

Wiersbe does a great job of summarizing the work of the Divine Trinity:

“God the Father created us to be kings but the disobedience of our first parents robbed us of our crowns.”

“God the Son came to earth and redeemed us to be kings (Revelation 1:5–6).”

God the Holy Spirit “can empower us to ‘reign in the life by one, Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:17).”11

  1. John MacArthur, The MacArthur Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005), p. 603.

  2. James A. Johnston, Psalms 1-41, v. 1 (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015), p. 95.

  3. Thomas Constable, Dr. Constable’s Expository (Bible Study) Notes: Psalms, p. 58; available at https://planobiblechapel.org/constable-notes/pdf/psalms.pdf.

  4. Constable, p 59.

  5. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament (Colorado Springs, David C. Cook, 2004), p. 103.

  6. From https://eternalfingerprints.wordpress.com/tag/sovereignty/.

  7. Ron Forseth, “20+ Messed Up Bible Heroes And What We Can Learn From Them” Oct 14, 2019, https://www.sermoncentral.com/pastors-preaching-articles/ron-forseth-20-messed-up-bible-heroes-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them-1613.

  8. Forseth.

  9. Constable, p. 60.

  10. Constable, p. 61.

  11. Wiersbie, p. 104.

Questions

  1. Does it bring you comfort that God looks deep within our minds and hearts? When is it comforting and when is it not?
  2. How can God both love the world and hate the wicked? (Psalm 5:5; 7:11; John 3:16)
  3. The psalmist in Psalm 8 began and ended with praising the majestic name of God. Why do you believe he found this to be important? What is the importance of a name to God Himself? (Exodus 3:14–15)
  4. How can you continue to have joy and rejoice in the Lord? (Psalm 19:8; John 15:9–11; Philippians 4:4–8)
  5. In Psalm 9:17, what are some reasons people ignore God? Who are the ones God will not ignore forever?
  6. What did the Holy Spirit highlight to you in Psalms 7—9 through the reading or the teaching?

Next: the Daily Word →

Daily Word

Laura Martin Psalm 8:4–6

“What is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet.”

These days, people host all kinds of celebrations and get special treats for everything—like scoring a goal at soccer, getting promoted at work, losing a tooth, or any calendar holiday. Today, celebrate the work of God’s hands! Not only did God make you, but He made the heavens, moon, and stars. He made the sheep, oxen, birds in the sky, and fish in the ocean. All of it was made by His hands. And He made man to rule over it all. He put everything under your feet, all His wonderful works. God describes you as a clay vessel holding all His power to do the work He called you to do.

So when you feel defeated, when you feel knocked down, when you feel you’ve messed up and don’t measure up, it is time to stand up. You are a child of God. You are the work of His hands—and He cares for you. You are able to press on because the creator of the universe, God Almighty’s power is at work in your life. Give thanks to the Lord throughout the earth. Celebrate and have a special treat today because the Lord has done great things and has given you so many reasons to rejoice, boast, and sing about His name!

“What is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him? You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet.”

— Psalm 8:4–6

FURTHER SCRIPTURE

  • Psalm 8:9 — “Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!”
  • Psalm 9:1–2 — “I will thank Yahweh with all my heart; I will declare all Your wonderful works. I will rejoice and boast about You; I will sing about Your name, Most High.”
  • 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 — “Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.”