Psalm 8 – I can’t believe God cares about me

Psalm 8 is known by most Christians. Maybe not by name, but for one verse, where David, in more modern language says. I can't believe God cares about me. Actually, about people in general. But since we tend to be more me-centric, I chose the word me.

Psalm 8 

For the director of music. 
According to gittith.
A psalm of David. 

Ps 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, 
how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

You have set your glory 
above the heavens. 

Ps 8:2 From the lips of children and infants 
you have ordained praise 
because of your enemies, 
to silence the foe and the avenger. 

Ps 8:3 When I consider your heavens, 
the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
which you have set in place, 

Ps 8:4 what is man that you are mindful of him, 
the son of man that you care for him? 

Ps 8:5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings 
and crowned him with glory and honor. 

Ps 8:6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; 
you put everything under his feet: 

Ps 8:7 all flocks and herds, 
and the beasts of the field, 

Ps 8:8 the birds of the air, 
and the fish of the sea, 
all that swim the paths of the seas. 

Ps 8:9 O LORD, our Lord, 
how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

But it's more than that.

It's about how to praise God. We'll see why in a bit.

And that part about God caring?

It's a theme throughout the Bible.

So while it may be amazing to David, since there was no New Testament back then. And since the Old Testament seems to be more about teaching people how to be civilized as opposed to what people had become.

Of course, it still feels like we need to learn how to be civilized. But we do at least have the New Testament, where it's less about "don't do this and don't do that" to "do this".

Both are loving. It's not unlike parents, who must teach their children right from wrong, safe from dangerous, and other such things. The first things are to learn what not to do. What we should do comes as we get older and more mature.

Some background on Psalm 8

As usual, let's get some background on this Psalm. This one quotes from one of my favorite Christian authors, C. S. Lewis.

The problem of “Fear of the Lord”

What does the Bible mean by "fear of the Lord"? Is it be afraid? Or is it be in awe? Or both? Something else entirely?

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C. S. Lewis called Psalm 8 a “short, exquisite lyric.” Derek Kidner, in his excellent two-volume study of the psalms, says, “This psalm is an unsurpassed example of what a hymn should be, celebrating as it does the glory and grace of God, rehearsing who he is and what he has done, and relating us and our world to him, all with a masterly economy of words, and in a spirit of mingled joy and awe.” He adds rightly, “The range of thought takes us not only ‘above the heavens’ (1) and back to the beginning (3, 6–8) but, as the New Testament points out, on to the very end.” The psalm’s theme is the greatness of God and the place of man within God’s universe.
I call it “our God, our glory.”  ¹Boice, J. M. (2005). Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (p. 67). Baker Books.

Joy and awe. That's what "fear of the Lord" is really about. It's not actual fear. Yes, there is cause to fear God. But if we love Him, that fear of the Lord goes from being afraid to being in total awe of God.

Without getting into the details from The problem of “Fear of the Lord”, let's just say one thing that indicates David's awe of God is the verses we're going to look at. The verses that inspired today's title: I can't believe God cares about me. That's not fear. That's awe.

I can't believe God cares about me

Here are today's focus verses.

Ps 8:3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,