Scripture References: Psalm 8

From last lesson: God comes to us, cares for us, and crowns us. And we are crowned, not through any human merit of our own, but we are crowned when we are possessed by the Lord and He makes out of our lives what we could never make of ourselves.

Then, as stated in the beginning of this teaching, the psalm ends with the Lord’s position.

IV. The Lord’s Position

He repeats the same phrase that captured us at the beginning. “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” The skeptic protests, “Prove it. Prove it. How’s God’s name excellent in all the earth?” In this psalm the singer has given us two reasons. Let me summarize them. First, he has presented us with the reason of/for God’s greatness. When I contemplate the heavens—the sun, the moon, the stars—and consider that You created them with only Your finger, the power and greatness of God proclaims the excellency of His name.

But, more than that, the psalmist asserts that we prove it by considering God’s grace. God’s grandeur is obvious to anyone who has the eyes to see it. God’s grace. How amazing that grace is. How marvelous. How wonderful. The God who can orbit the Milky Way and then take a hundred million galaxies in the palm of His hand and toss them into space like a handful of stardust, that is the God Who loves us, cares for us, has grace to give us! I know His name is excellent because of His grace.

But if you still want to argue, the psalmist says, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” That is the beginning and the end of this psalm. The psalm begins where it ends; it ends where it begins, and it moves through a cycle endlessly, eternally. “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name . . .” Living for His glory, possessed by His Spirit, we’re on our way to glory. The Captain of our salvation who was made “perfect through sufferings” is “bringing many sons to glory.”

Someday we shall indeed be kings and queens and shall rule with Him forever. This was all in His plan. All we were intended to be and all that we shall be is in Jesus Christ. That is why we obey Him, why we publicly profess Him, why we are baptized as believers, why we band together in churches to worship Him, why we pool our strength and resources to reach the ends of the earth with His message of salvation.

We live to honor Him. From our hearts we cry, “O Lord, our Lord, . . .” It is marvelous. “He’s our Lord, our Friend,” is a magnificent expression.

But is He YOUR Lord? Whether or not you claim Him as Lord doesn’t make Him Lord or keep Him from being Lord. He is Lord, regardless, but the key to your realizing your potential is when, with an open heart, you can testify, “O Lord, our Lord [MY LORD] how excellent is Your name in all the earth!”

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.