The First Sermon Ashore
Jean Louis Gerome Ferris
1921
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There is no better way to praise and thank God than with His own words through His own self-revelation in the Bible. We see
something unique in Psalms 8. A Divine set of bookends (figuratively speaking)
to hold man and give him importance the way only God can. This is a Psalm of
thanksgiving or a Todah Psalm. The function of a Thanksgiving or Todah Psalm,
or Psalm of Declarative Praise (Westermann) is to praise God for something He
has done for the Psalmist, to offer thanksgiving in the form of worship. This is what Thanksgiving is all about. A person communion with God giving God the utmost credit for things that we really didn't deserve since sinners are only worthy of death.
There are
three main aspects to Todah Psalms:
1) Praise for a deed God has done or an experience of God by the Psalmist.
2) It is an immediate response evoked by God’s action.
3) The tone is one of joy.
A todah is really a kind of praise offered to God that arises out of personal or communal experience yet in the context of overall commitment to God. The experiential dimension of todah psalms is easily seen in the middle section of the psalm as the worshipper recounts or gives testimony of his experience. In the case of Psalm 8 it is a highly specialized form of Todah/Thanksgiving Psalm sub-catagorized as a Salvation History Psalm that recounts in some way the story of God’s creation of the people of Israel and concluding with praise to God for his deliverance, or calling the people to respond in praise and faithfulness to God’s grace. These tend to be more theologically reflective than other psalms, since they move to exhortation based on Israel’s experience of God in her history.
1) Praise for a deed God has done or an experience of God by the Psalmist.
2) It is an immediate response evoked by God’s action.
3) The tone is one of joy.
A todah is really a kind of praise offered to God that arises out of personal or communal experience yet in the context of overall commitment to God. The experiential dimension of todah psalms is easily seen in the middle section of the psalm as the worshipper recounts or gives testimony of his experience. In the case of Psalm 8 it is a highly specialized form of Todah/Thanksgiving Psalm sub-catagorized as a Salvation History Psalm that recounts in some way the story of God’s creation of the people of Israel and concluding with praise to God for his deliverance, or calling the people to respond in praise and faithfulness to God’s grace. These tend to be more theologically reflective than other psalms, since they move to exhortation based on Israel’s experience of God in her history.
God is
clearly being viewed in verse 1 & 2 as majestic and thereby He is being
praised.
O LORD, our
Lord,
how majestic
is your name in all the earth!
You have set
your glory
above the
heavens.
From the
lips of children and infants
you have
ordained praise
because of
your enemies,
to silence
the foe and the avenger. ~Psalms 8:1-2
As we know
from the second part of verse 1 God’s creation (the heavens) is also glorious.
Although not has majestic and amazing as God Himself His creation is none the
less impressive in its own right. The grandeur of celestial objects like the
moon and stars are admired for their beauty.
When I
consider your heavens,
the work of
your fingers,
the moon and
the stars,
which you
have set in place... ~Psalm 8:3
The Hubble
Space Telescope over the last 15 years has produced some of the most beautiful
images of space ever seen. Images that were always there but invisible until
now. Just because you can't see things doesn't mean they aren't beautiful or
don't exist ;). God here is being given a rightful position above the heavens.
Man is being
given a dignified position as God’s creation, not necessarily because of
something man has done to warrant it. The truth is that man is rightfully
deserving of punishment and ultimately death because of his sins. This is what
verse 4 & 5 dwell on. Why would the Lord take any concern for such a lowly
singular creature as opposed to other aspects of creation. The concept of why
is easy to tell but impossible for a human to explain. It is by God’s grace or
unmerited favor that man is looked upon as having value. It is God who has
given us our value...because He chose too, just as God chose Israel to be his
chosen people. It wasn’t because they were the largest among people, the most
deserving or the most righteous.
What is man
that you are mindful of him,
the son of
man that you care for him?
You made him
a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned
him with glory and honor. ~Psalms 8:4-5
We then see
an indirect reference to Adam and man in general in verse 6, 7 & 8 and his
dominion over creation.
You made him
ruler over the works of your hands;
you put
everything under his feet
all flocks
and herds,
and the
beasts of the field,
the birds of
the air,
and the fish
of the sea,
all that
swim the paths of the seas. ~Psalms 8:6-8
God is again
in clear view in verse 9 as majestic as he was in verse 1 & 2, again He is
being praised.
O LORD, our
Lord,
how majestic
is your name in all the earth! ~Psalms 8:9
Another way
of viewing this chapter is :
• The Lords
Majesty (v. 1) His name and the revealed character of God. Praise to the Lord.
• The Lord’s
Strength (v. 2) Strength in humbleness of children’s praise stills the enemies
of God.
• The Lord’s
Creation (v. 3-8) Man’s glory is indicative of how God made him and how he
positioned him.
• The Lord’s
Majesty (v. 9) The praise ends were it rightfully began, we go full circle back
to God
God is
completely surrounding man here in love just as He does now...like bookends. Not only that, where man is being mentioned in this Psalm, God is working through man
with sovereignty and providentially. Giving man his self-worth, giving him his
purpose. God crowned man with glory and honor. Please note it says God crowned
man, not man crowned man. This becomes important when thinking about the fact
many people find their self-worth in other people.
He is divine
and we are not. He is perfect and we are not. He is our creator and we should
praise Him and thank Him if only for this fact. Not only for
our own existence but also for his other works of creations such as heaven,
heavenly objects and even each generation of children that comes. God is
everything and without him nothing exists. All believers know this and to some
extent so do non-believers whether they chose to acknowledge it or not. If they
do not acknowledge it.
So thank Him today. If we are to give thanks today which is the whole point of the day…give thanks where it belongs…with God.
Westermann, Claus., Praise and Lament in the Psalms, John Knox, 1981.
So thank Him today. If we are to give thanks today which is the whole point of the day…give thanks where it belongs…with God.
Westermann, Claus., Praise and Lament in the Psalms, John Knox, 1981.
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