Psalm 8

Psalm 8 (NRSV)
1 O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!


Lord God, Maker of Heaven and Earth,
You know the life-long struggle of my soul and I confess it again.
If, indeed, you are Sovereign of all and if, indeed, you love us all with the perfect love revealed in Jesus, then why the incalculable innocent suffering in this world? I mean no disrespect in asking. I do not want to challenge you nor your authority.

The tornado ravages the Boy Scout camp and little boys are killed. For argument’s sake, let’s assume that they are all sinners. At that age, it’s a safe assumption. But did they do anything to deserve the death penalty? You see my struggle. You have always seen my struggle.

So Lord, forgive me if I am wrong, I choose to believe that your character shines through the love of Jesus and that the shape of your love takes the form of a cross. In other words, for whatever reasons, you do not control everything. You did not aim that tornado at the scouts.

Instead, your love shines through the kindness and compassion and love of all who are caring for the victims and for all who are working to prevent such tragedies from happening again. You grieve the tragedies with the rest of us and you are leading us to the time and place where they will never happen again. Why not now, Lord?

So where is the majesty of your name in all of this? I see it in the love of Christ, in the boundless, limitless, indescribable love of Christ. Your majesty is in the glory of your love that some day, in some way, will finally be made real in all of the universe.

Lord you are my Sovereign. I choose you as my Sovereign. I choose to respond to your majestic love by inviting you to shape my heart and soul and mind and behavior. I choose to be in the community of people who choose you as Sovereign of their lives and of our lives together. I choose to make you Sovereign of my life by following Jesus.

O Lord, our Sovereign….

PERSONAL PRAYERS:

Tell God how much you love God.
Name the places where you see the majesty of God.
Name 5 things for which you are grateful and say “thank you” to God.

In Christ’s name,
Amen.


You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortalsa that you care for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,b
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Sovereign,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
[1]

a Heb ben adam, lit. son of man

b Or than the divine beings or angels: Heb elohim

[1] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989