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How Great Thou Art!

Psalms 8
For the director of music. According to gittith. A
psalm of David.
1
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5
You made him a little lower than the heavenly
beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6
You made him ruler over the works of your
hands;
you put everything under his feet:
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all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
8
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
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O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Introduction:
• Rediscovering Psalm – bring revival to our
personal lives and our relationship with God.
If only we are always “vival” we don’t need
revival.
• The title of this Psalm reads, For the director
of music. According to gittith. A Psalm of
David. After writing this song, it was sent to
the director of music in the temple, an
equivalent of a modern day arranger, who
writes the various parts: for the singers and
other instrumentalists prior to being sang and
played during the regular temple worship.
• It also identifies the writer of the Psalm as
David himself and the sound (or the feel) of
the Psalm (According to Gittith, which is in
other versions, the instrument of Gath.)
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Gittith. What it means exactly isn't known. It

occurs three times in the Bible, in the titles of
Psalms 8, 81 and 84. Some scholars suggest it
denotes some kind of instrument, perhaps a
lyre, known as a Gittite (i.e. made in Gath).
Others say it's a genre or melody known as
the Gittite. And there are others who think it
means "at the winepresses," and that these
songs were for the Feast of Booths.

• In this Psalm David speaks of the glory of

God, and how the glory of man and his
destiny reflects upon God.

I. The Praise of God’s Excellent Name (v.1)

1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

• O Lord, our Lord. David begins recognizing

the covenant name of God (Yahweh or
Jehovah); Because of the Lord’s covenant
with His people, He has given himself to be
their All in all.
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1.The Lord is to be their Jehovah Jireh –

Their provider.
2.The Lord is to be their Jehovah Nissi –
Their banner; The one who gives them
victory over the enemy.
3.The Lord is to be their Jehovah Shalom –
The one who gives them peace.
4.The Lord is to be their Jehovah Rophe –
Their healer.
5.The Lord is to be their Jehovah Tsidkenu
– Their righteousness. These and all is
what The Lord is to His people as a result
of His covenant with them.
• and David follows it up with a description of
Yahweh’s position to His people. The Lord is
Adonai…Lord, Master, Husband, Owner.
(Street language: Chief, Boss, Amo,
Manager, Kapitan….). It was a simple,
straightforward, and common way of saying
that “Our God is our Master”.
• Psalm 23 – The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want….David talks about the Lord’s
abundant provision and guidance in his
life…through thick and thin…David calls the
Lord my shepherd…a sense of ownership;
The reason David can call Him his is simply
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he recognizes that the Lord bought him with a

price (Psalm 22); “My God, my God why
have you forsaken me…” That he no longer is
the owner and master of his own destiny.
Jesus bought him with a price…not silver or
gold…but with His precious blood.
• I have to walk you through and remind you of
these things...unless you have a personal
encounter with Lord in Psalm 22; You can’t
really say, He is your shepherd….and you
will be at a loss at the psalmists next
statements….

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
above the heavens.

• A person who does not experience a personal

encounter with Christ will have no
understanding or discernment of the Lord
majesty and glory…A person may view the
beauty of creation and will have no clue as to
its glorious creator.
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Illustration: 1st trip to the Twin Lakes….did

we shout “praise God”? well NO. Only for our
own fleshly pursuit and indulgence…

• The psalmist here praises the Lord’s name.

What does he see or feel about the Lord
which led him to lift up his voice in adoration
and praise?
• Majestic – greatly impressive in
appearance…

Illus: 4 mothers boast of their priest sons:

1.Most Reverend
2.Most Holy Reverend
3.Most High Cardinal
4.Oh my God…..

• What did David saw which made him gasp in

wonder & amazement?
• David is seeing the majesty of the Lord as
evident in all creation. David recognized that
though the Lord was Israel’s covenant God,
He was also God of more than just Israel. His
name is majestic in all the earth.
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• At the same time, the earth was not enough to

measure the glory and majesty of God, His
glory is above the heavens.
• God's glory is higher than the heavens. That
means….the planets, the stars, the limitless
universe give only a partial view of how very
great God really is. Yet today, sophisticated
men shrug off the evidence as if it didn't
exist.
• If sophisticated unbelieving men rejects these
evidences, from where does the praise of God
resound?

II. The Praise of God from Children (v.2)

2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
What does this verse say?
Why not from the kings and the wise men of
the earth? Why from infants?
• The Lords majesty & glory is so obvious &
understood even by infants & children. How
could the rest of man miss it?
x-ref: Romans 1:18-32 “Men suppress truth by
their wickedness”; The heavens declare the
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glory of our God. It is so plain to see, such that

men have no excuse!
• the Psalmist tells us that God instead has
chosen some of the simplest things of this
world to bear witness to His brilliance.
• It shames the educated & the sophisticated
when the simple ones have understanding…
• Jesus choose his disciples from among the
Galileans. Why not from the scholars in
Jerusalem? The answer is so that through
these weaker vessels, the Lord might display
His strength. (NKJV – ordained strength).
The Lord inhabits our praise and He silences
the enemy by our praise!

It Just Happened
Once, an unbeliever visited Isaac Newton, the
great English scientist and Christian. Newton had
a mechanical model of the solar system in his
study. The unbeliever asked, "Who made this?"
"Nobody," Mr. Newton replied promptly.
"You must think I am a fool!" the unbeliever
said, "It would take a genius to make this."
Newton said, "This is only a puny imitation of a
much grander system. I cannot convince you that
this mere toy is without a designer, yet you
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profess to believe that the great original from

which this design is taken has come into being
without a Designer or a Maker."

1 Corinthians 1:27
27 But God chose the foolish things of the
world to shame the wise; God chose the weak
things of the world to shame the strong. NIV

III. The Praise of the Creator of Humanity

(v.3-8)
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
• This verse partly tells us what David has seen
which led him to express awe of the Lord’s
work.
• David is in awe at the splendour of creation;
the wonders of nature lead him to praise it’s
creator. Even the universe with its infinite
distances was the work of the Lord’s fingers.
• No branch of science proclaims God's
greatness and man's insignificance more
eloquently than astronomy. The simple fact
that distances must be reckoned in light-years
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(the distance that light travels in a year)

illustrates the point. Light travels 300,000
km. per second, and there are 31.5 million
seconds in a year, so light travels roughly 10
trillion km. in a single year! Yet some stars
are billions of light-years from the earth. No
wonder we call such computation
astronomical.
• To gaze into the heavens at night should give
us great thoughts about God. The moon and
the stars are the work of His fingers! When
we think of the numberless myriads of stars,
of the vast distances in the universe, and of
the power that holds the planets in orbit with
mathematical precision, it boggles the mind.

Psalms 19:1
19 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
NIV

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?
• A rhetorical question – What made the
psalmist ask this question?
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• The main focus / theme of this psalm which

leads to praise of God (the creator of
humanity.
• God is indescribably great. Man, by contrast,
is pathetically tiny. Yet God has conferred
tremendous glory and honor upon man. The
wonder of this fact brings forth an eloquent
gasp from David. Makatingala….
• Relatively speaking, the planet earth is a
speck of dust in the universe. If this is so,
what is a single man perched upon this
planet? Yet God is interested in every
individual! He has a personal, intimate
concern for every human being.

(Illus: Dr Seuss - Horton hears a who…we’re

not even a speck in the vast universe) Note the
objections of the other Animals, esp Kangaroo
lady! “A Person is a person no matter how
small..”

Psalm 139 O Lord you have searched me and

known me. You know my sitting down and
my rising up; (Why is God concerned even
with little things? That is how much He is
involved….)
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5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly

beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
• The response to the rhetorical questions of v.
4 is stunning. Man, as male and female,
stands at the summit of God's creation. The
Hebrew text is "You have made him to lack
little of God." The Septuagint, the ancient
Greek translation of the Old Testament,
translates the Hebrew word meaning "God"
as angels. The author of Hebrews bases his
argument in Heb. 2:5 on the Septuagint. So
both readings are true. God made human
beings in His image, just a little lower than
angels.
• crowned him with glory and honor. God
created human beings as majestic creatures
who were to rule over His creation. But in our
fallen state, we are profoundly disfigured, a
perversion of the majesty God has intended
(9:20). However, Jesus restores those who put
their trust in Him. In Christ, we recover
majesty; in Him, we become the people that
God wants us to be. Whenever we feel
worthless, the words of this psalm should
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encourage us. We and all other human beings

are valuable because God Himself created us
in His own glorious image.
• Though God has created an infinite universe
beyond human comprehension or discovery,
mortal man is still His greatest concern. He
not only wants to share responsibility with us,
but His glory as well.
• So let the words of the Psalmist lift us up to
heavenly heights of Praise to His glorious
majesty.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your

hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
• However, God’s greatness and creative power
are paralleled with the tremendous
responsibility He has given man to take care
of His works.
• This was intended to be a harmonious
partnership in which God’s ownership is
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acknowledged and man’s will is respected.

As such, God is the object of man’s praise,
and man is the object of God’s grace. He not
only wants to share responsibility with us, but
his glory as well.
• How does that works for us today? We were
created in His image - He longs for
fellowship and partnership. He gives us gifts,
talents, wealth so we can use it for His glory
and purposes.
• Without that intimate relationship with God,
we will only be using it for our own
indulgences and abusing it for our own
destruction. Without God, we will just self
destruct because of sin. Because of His great
love and mercy He sends His own son to
redeem us from our sin. John 3:16
• An old cathechism says: “The chief end of
man is to know God and enjoy Him forever”.
That is what we were created for. To know
God and to have fellowship with Him all the
days of our lives. There is nothing more
fulfilling than to know that your life is fitting
into Gods’ plan.
• Jesus say’s: If any man want to be my
disciple, he must deny himself, take up his
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cross and follow me. For the most part we

have been living for ourselves. Why not
experience living for God. He longs to partner
with you in the fulfilment of His plans to
redeem the world. Not that we can add to His
finished work. It is finished, we simply
implement it by sharing the good news to
others as commanded by our Master (Chief
Boss Amo Manager, Kapitan)…
• Acts 1:8 – “You shall receive power…..”

IV. An Epilogue in Praise of God’s Excellent

Name (v.9)
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! NIV
• The Lord sharing His glory with man was
never a mistake but in fact a part of our
Sovereign God’s original plan.
• Then God's redeemed people will join to sing
with new appreciation, "O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is Your name in all the
earth”

Closing:
If you are here tonight and you have not given
your life to Jesus.
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The Lord want to have a covenant with you; He

longs to be your All in all. He desires to provide
for your needs; He longs to give you victory over
sin; He longs to give you the peace that passes all
understanding; To heal you of your hurts and
pain and give you the righteousness that you need
to live a life that pleases Him. He desires to have
a relationship with you…to the point that you get
to call Him your Master, your Lord.

If you desire to surrender your life to the Lord

Jesus and to make Him your Lord!

Repent of your sins, and receive the gift of

salvation through Christ Jesus…

God loves you so much! He gave His only son to

die on the cross for you…Make Him your Lord
today! You will never be disappointed!

(While all our heads bowed and eyes closed….if

anyone wants to receive Jesus, raise your hand
and I would love to pray for you)

Robert Case Band song:

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“Tonights the night to be forgiven

tonight’s the night to be born again
you can give your life to the one who made you
and find out how you fit into His plan”
(The Master’s plan!)