¹O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! ²From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

Imagine being so enamored with someone that the mere mention of his or her name causes you to sing out in praise. That is David in Psalm 8. His praise is not prompted by any specific things God has done in his life. Instead, his praise bursts out from the contemplation of what he sees in the natural world. In everything he sees, the reflection of God’s majesty shines brightly. Writing about this doesn’t come close to experiencing it, so David doesn’t explain it logically or philosophically. No, he describes what he sees in poetic and majestic terms. And to take the description up a notch, the Scripture notes this song of David is to be used for “for the choir director” to lead the congregation of God’s people in singing Yahweh’s praise. Singing combines words with music to give a holistic expression of our praise. It involves our mind and our emotions.

This is the first psalm that is clearly and exclusively a psalm of praise as opposed to a lament. The first two verses call out to God: “O Lordour Lord” may be literally translated as “O Yahweh, our Adonai.” He is the Lord, Adonai almighty, and more specifically and personally, He is Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel. Through the faith and the love David has for God, he sees God’s majesty and splendor everywhere he looks.

While most people stand in awe at the natural beauty of creation, David stands in awe at the Creator of that beauty. “When I consider … what is man that You take thought of him …?” (Ps. 8:3-4). Most people observing the starry night sky on a cloudless night are humbled by the vastness of the cosmos and their small part in it. David sees the same sky and finds himself humbled by the greatness of God—as do all who believe in God as the personal and perfect Creator of all. The One who created every one of those billions of stars thinks of David—and He thinks of you and me. That thought is overwhelming.

How is it possible that God could consciously think of each of the 8.9 billion people on earth? For a mere human, that would be quite impossible. In the test of faith God gave Abraham, He said,

And [God] took [Abram] outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Gen. 15:5–6)

The test was not about the man’s counting skill but whether he believed his descendants would be innumerable. When David looked at the starry sky, He saw God. He knew that “[the Lord] counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them” (Ps. 147:4). And he is amazed that God would have even a passing thought for him.

Yet, though David writes about himself in the psalm, the Holy Spirit has another layer of interpretation. Verse 5 says, “Yet You have made him [man] a little lower than God, and You crowned him with glory and majesty” (Ps. 8:5). The word “God” is translated in the ESV as “heavenly beings,” while the NIV and NKJ  render it “angels.” This variation in translations reflects that the underlying Hebrew word, elohim, can refer to any of the above meanings, depending on the context. The inspired writer of the book of Hebrews takes the meaning to be “angels” when quoting this psalm in Hebrews 2:6-8. The writer begins his series of comparisons, starting with the angels, concluding that our Lord Jesus Christ was better than the angels. He uses David’s psalm to support this comparison. As amazing as it is that the Creator God of the universe would think of us, it is even more amazing that …

… we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. (Heb. 2:9–10)

What David only knew dimly, we know more specifically. God not only thinks of us, but He sent Jesus to die for us! How can we not join in with David as he concludes his song by repeating the first line?

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! Amen.