Psalm 8:1-9 “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:3-4—KJV).
David, the shepherd boy destined to become Israel’s greatest king and ancestor of the Messiah, spent untold hours looking at the heavens as he watched over his sheep. As he meditated on the beauty and extent of God’s creation, David marveled that God took note of human beings and even cared for him. He concluded that God watched over His fold of people in ways similar to his watching over his fold of sheep. In addition, God revealed His love and care for David to such an extent that He inspired David to write these words, beloved by all believers everywhere, “The Lord is my Shepherd” (Psalm 23:1).
The Book of Genesis reveals why our world is no longer as God created it originally. Still, David wrote in poetry what the Apostle Paul later explained about our knowledge of God, “Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Romans 1:20). Through reason and reflection, nature reveals many truths about God. Because God cares for us, He also took time to speak to people, work in their lives, and inspire them to write the Bible.
Knowing that people sometimes misunderstand mere words, the Word of God became flesh, lived among us, and demonstrated the grace and truth of God (see John 1:14-18). Jesus proclaimed God’s care by revealing, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (see John 10:11-18).
In his address to God, the psalmist calls God by the name God revealed to Moses: “LORD” = YHWH. God exists, as his name indicates and reveals. More than just existing, the psalmist proclaims that “LORD” befits his name, for God rules as sovereign. He is ruling over and working through all that he created. God’s name is majestic over all the earth, unlike the tribal gods of Israel’s neighbors. The psalmist could recall all that God did before and after Moses, as God ruled from above the heavens and continues to do so.
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