Psalm 8 - "How Majestic"
/“How Majestic”
Psalm 8
O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the phrase, “can’t see the forest for the trees.” I’ll be honest, I am particularly prone to this problem. I can get so obsessed with one tiny detail that I completely lose sight of the bigger picture. As the daughter and granddaughter of foresters, I have a remarkably hard time remembering to look at the forest and not get distracted by all the trees. So what does this have to do with today’s scripture passage? Well, when I began reading and praying through this psalm for this Sunday, I kept focusing on verses 4 and 5– “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.” I couldn’t help but think about how these verses sit in such contrast with one another. At first, King David is reflecting on the glory and majesty of all creation and in comparison, he wonders “who are we compared to all this?” It is a humbling sentiment and one that I know well. On a day when the sky is clear and the snow-capped Olympic mountains are out and the sunlight is dazzling on the water, it is easy to feel insignificant. How on earth does God pay attention to me when there are so many bigger, more beautiful things that God has created? A theology that is built around this verse alone leads us to strict humility that can turn into self-loathing. Who am I to complain about my problems when the world is so much bigger than me? Who am I to think God cares about my concerns when compared to the concerns of the cosmos?
But then comes verse 5– “Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.” It takes my breath away. Humans– all humans!– are just a little lower than God! We are not insignificant earthworms, we are filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit and we are very good. Focusing on this verse alone has been hugely important for Christians from marginalized backgrounds, such as the African American Church. At the beginning of Pride month, I am reminded that this sentiment is extremely important to the LGBTQ+ community which has reclaimed the term “queer theology.” For those who have been oppressed because of their race or sexuality or background, the conviction that all humans are crowned with God’s glory and honor is counter-cultural, radical, and empowering. The world may try to get you down, but we know the truth of who God made us to be. This verse is central to queer theology because queer folks have been so dehumanized in our society and the most radical, truth-telling thing to be said is that you are Good and you are glorious just as God made you.
But even if this verse were the sole basis of your theology, it too would lead to a misguided understanding of ourselves. To see humans as only and always above all creation can lead to a warped relationship with the rest of creation. It can lead us to think we are to treat this planet and all that inhabits it as something that serves our every whims, instead of something we are bound to in a mutual relationship. By focusing too closely on only one verse, we miss the truth that can only be found by looking at both together. You cannot build a theology around only one verse in the bible and so we must hold them together, even when they seem to be in tension with one another. The ability to hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time is a paradox and one of my favorite parts about being Christian. We are so small compared to the vast universe God created and yet, we are special and sacred and seen by our Creator.
As I was working on this sermon, I excitedly told my husband about my musings on our role in Creation and how Psalm 8 depicts two different ideas about our identity. He nodded along for a while and then he turned to me and said, “Laura, those are interesting thoughts but the psalm isn’t about humans and what our identity is. This psalm is about God!” I had to laugh because of course I had done the exact thing I was planning to tell you not to do– I had focused so closely on just a few verses that once again I had missed the forest for the trees. I missed the whole point of this psalm—”oh Lord, our God how majestic is your name all the earth.” This is a worship song to God.
I do find it comforting that even in a song of praise sung directly to God, King David spends most of his words talking about humanity. It’s a deeply human trait to think about ourselves even when we’re trying to think about something else. I used to think that was pride and something I should feel ashamed of until I did it less. How dare I focus on myself when I should be thinking only of God? But I don’t think that anymore. King David has no shame in contemplating his role in all creation, so why should I? When we read Psalm 8, we understand that part of our praise to God is honoring our great privilege and obligations as humans.
Perhaps you have heard preachers speak on this passage before about God granting us dominion over the Earth. It is easy to see how people have used this verse as an excuse to abuse the earth because it is “our dominion” and we can do with it what we please. Our lives are surrounded by the impacts of climate change and there is no end to the examples of individuals and multinational corporations who have certainly chosen to have dominion over this earth. Extractive capitalism tells us that we must take all that we can get from this earth and what it produces lest someone else get to it first and make a profit off of our loss. The idea of dominion is inextricably interwoven is today’s capitalistic notions of dominance and market power. Dominion over involves no reciprocal relationships. It is a one-way wielding of power down and resource extraction up. But that is not what Psalm 8 means.
For Psalm 8 does not sit on its own– it is part of the whole canon of scripture that starts with God’s creation and ends with God's new creation. In between, it is our responsibility to be stewards over that creation. This land is not ours to conquer and dominate. When Psalm 8 says that we have been given dominion over the works of God’s hands, it means that we have been given the responsibility of caretakers of God’s dominion. We must treat it as God does. This land is ours to care for while we are here, which is only a blink of an eye in the scope of eternity. Humanity's entire existence on this planet is but a mere blip in the expansiveness of this planet's existence. No matter how many years we have to live, it is merely a blink of an eye. And so we are called to be good stewards. To care for this earth not just while we live here, but for those who come after us.
Psalm 8 uses the language of royal sovereignty, which rarely applies to our lives here in America, unless we are watching the spectacle of King Charles’ coronation. Instead we are familiar with the language of capitalism, so I’d like to reframe the mandate of this passage:
As c-suite executives of the Planet Earth corporation— you have an obligation to your shareholders. They are your great great great great grandchildren. They are the wild animals and the livestock. They are the fish in the sea, the rainforests, and the redwood trees. Your success will be measured by their flourishing. They require dividends of clean air, clean water, and room to grow. Your board of trustees is made of three persons in one God—creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Your authority was given to you by God and it is for God’s glory that you are called to serve.
I hope you hear two things from scripture today. First, you were made by God and called very good. You have a role to play on this earth and nothing about you is an accident or a mistake. God has given you a sphere of influence, however small it may feel, with which to do good. That is your dominion over earth. Use that space for good. Do not think that because your dominion is so small that you are let off the hook for caring for this planet and for your neighbors and for the Earth that your great great great, great grandchildren will inherit. It is a wonderful and mighty responsibility to be human.
But the second thing is this – do not forget who is the main character in the story. It is God. The triune, God–Father, son, and spirit; Mother, Christ, and Companion. In all the names God takes and all the mystery God evokes God is the main character. So may our words be like the Psalmist’s–may they start and end in praise to the one who is all deserving. Oh Lord, our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
