Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Psalms To See Me Through: Psalm 8—God’s Glory On Display



O Yahweh, our Adonay, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! Your glory is sung above the heavens {Ps. 8:1 NOG}. 

I wish you could see what I see; the lens does not give proper justice to the beauty. The beauty of spring, watching the trees stretch and yawn, waking from the long sleep of winter.

I wish you could smell what I smell…walking through the yard, searching for spring, any sign of new life, a wave of fragrance so pure sweeps over me—The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating; your name is perfume poured out {Song of Songs 1:3}. I inhale the fragrance from my apricot tree; I cannot get enough. The fresh wind of the fragrance refreshes my soul. 
I wish you could hear what I hear…my hunt for spring ends at the apricot tree, and the quiet is deafening. The only sound on the breeze is the humming of bees buzzing from flower to flower, gathering as much nectar as possible…dozens of them…the sound of new life, pollinating new life, a sure sign that spring has arrived, in spite of the six inches of snow two days before. Winter’s fleeting attempt to buck against the natural laws of the seasons—created by Adonay. What I thought would surely die from the heavy, wet spring snow...lives.



For the choir director; on the gittith; a psalm by David.

O Yahweh, our Adonay, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! Your glory is sung above the heavens. From the mouths of little children and infants, you have built a fortress against your opponents to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the creation of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have set in place—what is a mortal that you remember him or the Son of Man that you take care of him? You have made him a little lower than yourself. You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him rule what your hands created. You have put everything under his control: all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals, the birds, the fish, whatever swims in the currents of the seas. {Psalm 8 The Names of God Bible}.

Yahweh is the Name above all names, the sacred, most personal name of God. A name so sacred it cannot be uttered. Jews will not pronounce or write the vowels. YHWH… It is known in the Old Testament as the tetragramaton, it is used in every book of the Bible except Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs.[1] After the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, YHWH was replaced by Adonay in Biblical texts. 

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name (Phil. 2:9 NASB).

God bestowed on Jesus His Name, the Name above all names; Paul, a highly educated Jewish Pharisee, and Scribe would know exactly the implications of the word Yahweh. 

From the mouth of babes…God has ordained that we praise Him. It is our praise that shows who we trust and have faith in. I witness the divine on the canvas of God’s creation and cannot help but praise Him for the beauty surrounding me.

Adonay The Lord our Master. He is Master over all things; in the New Testament, Jesus is Lord and Servant, and we are His servants. May we be faithful and obedient to Him. 

You have made him a little lower than yourself. You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him rule what your hands created. You have put everything under his control:all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals, the birds, the fish, whatever swims in the currents of the seas.

I love nature, and I see the finger of God in creation, and it displays His glory throughout the earth and above the heavens; we cannot fathom His greatness. Yahweh, the Name above all names, our Lord and Master.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse {Rom. 1:20 NASB}. 

He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers—everything has been created through him and for him. O Yahweh, our Adonay, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! (Col. 1:16 NOG).[2]

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was already with God in the beginning. Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity (John:1:1-4 NOG).

Jesus is Yahweh and Adonay, the Name above all names, our Lord and Master. He created you and me. He created everything. The Psalmist saw the things God made and was awed by His majesty; and to think that He was “just a little” below the angels, leaving glory to reconcile us to Him. That is how much He loves us. How much He cherishes us. He formed us and gave us His most sacred Name to call upon Him for anything we need. 

I am sure that you have your own spring happening where you are. New life. Breathtaking beauty. Fragrant blossoms. The sounds of spring waking from sleep. Yahweh, Adonay, the Lord and Master of all of it—beckoning you to call to Him. Our response? Praise Him. 













[1] Ann Spangler, Praying The Names of God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), 74.
[2] NOG is the Names of God Bible, Ann Spangler, editor.